No One Left Behind
by Evx
Summary: A team is there for you. A team supports you. A team cares for you. No one gets left behind on a team. So why does it not feel that way?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello. So the plot and majority of the story was written before season 3 came out. I finished all the revisions and adding some additions after the season came out. So please do pretend the events in the third season did not happen for the most part.**

 **Also in case this story seems weirdly separated or timed, please know that this was written in one straight flow at first, not separate chapters, because I first wrote this story just for the sake of writing. Later on I decided to post it so I just took the different scenes of the story and made them different chapters to make reading easier.**

 **Warning: I do not speak Spanish. I only took enough Spanish class to get my foreign language credits. Sorry if the Spanish seems a bit weird.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. This show does not belong to me. Please don't sue me, I'm innocent.**

"Where are you my little blue paladin? Come out from wherever you are."

Lance curses under his breath. He's bruised, unable to run, and alone. A bad combination. All he can do now is pray he can hide from Lotor until he finds a way off this ship.

Pain spreads throughout his leg as his open cut begins to sting more. Damn galra soldier. He took that hit so Pidge could escape. That what got him stuck on this ship without his team.

 _At least they all escape safely and got what we came for. Now I just have to find a way out of here._

Blue took Pidge back since they only took Red and Blue with them. Hunk was on Red with Keith.

Lance holds his breath as he hears footsteps come closer to where he is. He can't run away from Lotor and he sure as hell can't fight against him without his bayard, which is nowhere to be found.

As the footsteps sound closer Lance begins to worry.

 _What am I going to do?_

"Found you."

Lotor lifts Lance up with ease from his hiding spot. Lance glares at the galra prince.

"Let me go." Lance says.

"Never paladin. You're mine now." Lotor replies.

He carries Lance away, over his shoulder, as Lance tries to fight against his grip.

"Why you cabrón irritante! ¡Suéltame tú peludo morado!" Lance yells.

"What a weird language. I didn't realize you could speak another language little paladin, how interesting." Lotor says.

"I speak that language better than this one, you'd be surprised what I say." Lance mumbles under his breath.

Lotor heard him though and laughs.

"You are feisty blue paladin. I like that. I will have fun with you." Lotor says.

Lance scoffs.

"You better have your fun now because I won't be here for too long. My team will come and save me." Lance replies.

"Keep saying that blue. Maybe you'll begin to believe it, though we both know they aren't coming back for you." Lotor says with a chuckle.

"They will come back for me." Lance argues.

"Of course of course." Lotor says.

Lotor brings Lance into a cold room and chains him to the wall. He caresses Lance's face.

"We're going to have plenty of fun together paladin." He says.

He digs his sharp claws into Lance's face and draws blood. Lance hisses.

"You better get used to this because you'll be here a long time."


	2. Chapter 2

Pidge sits in Blue's chair. She hasn't been able to move Blue at all.

"Listen Blue I know I'm not Lance but we have to get back." Pidge says.

Still no response. Still no movement.

 _The guys are probably back at the castle by now. I have to get back and tell them what happened to Lance._

Flashbacks play in her head. Lance took that hit to his leg for her to make sure she got to blue before the gate closed. He let himself be trapped in there, by himself, injured, and without his bayard. Who knows where it went. Lotor probably has it by now.

She has to get to the castle so they can save Lance.

"Please Blue, we have to get back so the others can help us save Lance. Please I promise we'll come back to save him." She begs.

After a moment of silence and stillness, Blue reacts to Pidge's plead.

"Thank you Blue." She says as she begins to fly back to the castle.

Pidge heads back to the castle, thinking of how they can get Lance back. Who knows what Lotor will do to him to get information on Voltron.

As Pidge lands Blue in Blue's hangar, she sees everyone waiting there.

Pidge exits, preparing herself for what she has to explain.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright. Neither you or Lance were answering." Allura says.

"Yeah we were in a difficult situation." Pidge says, rubbing her arm.

"Did you guys get it? Did you get the information on the planet?" Keith asks.

This mission was important to everyone. They finally found where Shiro may be but they just needed information they didn't have about the planet he's on. This mission probably meant the most to Keith. Pidge felt successful at first but now she doesn't.

"Yeah I got everything." She replies.

"Hey Pidge, why hasn't Lance left Blue yet? Is he hurt or something?" Hunk asks.

Pidge looks down, not able to look him in the eyes.

"Lance didn't come back on Blue with me. While we were escaping they began to close the gate. Lance lost his bayard sometime between the fight and the escape. A galra soldier was about to attack me but Lance took the hit for me and got a huge cut in his leg. He got me out before the gate closed but he got stuck there. I'm sure Lotor has him by now because he couldn't run or fight." She explains.

Allura inhales sharply.

"Lance is still with Lotor?" Allura asks.

Pidge nods.

"This is not good at all." Coran says.

"What?" Keith asks.

"Lotor is cruel and manipulative. He will play on someone's weaknesses and torture them until he gets what he wants. I doubt he will be gentle with Lance especially since he is a paladin." Allura explains.

"You mean Lance is in big trouble?" Hunk asks.

"Precisely. We must get Lance before Lotor can do much damage to him." Coran says.

"As much as I agree that we need to save Lance as soon as possible, that's going to be real hard with only three paladins. We barely escaped Lotor's ship this time, and Hunk and I were nowhere near Lotor. Actually getting Lance back from him will be a real challenge." Keith says, masking his concern, frowning.

"I'd hate to agree but you may be right. I don't want to leave Lance there any longer than he has to but I doubt you three alone can go against Lotor and his ship." Allura says.

"So what do we do? Leave Lance there?" Hunk asks.

"Of course not! I would never leave one of my paladins with such a person." Allura responds.

"Guys I know this may sound bad but I think we should continue trying to find Shiro." Keith says.

"That will waste more time though. Time Lance doesn't have." Pidge says.

"I know but we can't save him ourselves. That's a suicide mission and we all know it. It took four of us just to get in and out semi safely. We need the black lion. We need Shiro if we want to save Lance." Keith argues.

"Do you even really care about saving Lance or are you just worried about Shiro? We all know you have some thing about him." Pidge says.

"Of course I care about saving Lance. I'm not some heartless person who wants to leave him with some psychopathic sadistic prince. All I'm saying is we can't do it with only us three." Keith replies.

"Though it hurts to say it, Keith is right Pidge. It's better for us to get Shiro so we can save Lance." Coran says.

"But…" Pidge starts.

"Pidge." Hunk says, staring at her.

Pidge gets the message and huffs.

"Whatever. Here's your stupid information that you wanted." She says, throwing Keith some device that looks like a flash drive then walks away.

Hunk takes a deep breath.

"She's just upset. She was the last one to see Lance. She probably feels like it's her fault he's stuck with Lotor." Hunk says.

"I can understand her frustration. However she must see that this is for Lance. Voltron will never be whole without all five paladins and right now Shiro is the easiest and quickest to get." Allura states.

"I know, it's just still hard you know. Lance has always been there with Pidge and I. It's just a bit hard leaving him behind like this. But I know we'll save him. We won't leave him with Lotor." Hunk says, then leaves to find Pidge.

Keith stares at the device in his hand. He tells himself that this is the right thing to do.

 _As stubborn as Lance is, I'm sure he won't let Lotor get to him so easily._

He tries to convince himself of that as he goes to sort through the information. Without Pidge's help this will take much longer.

They'll do it though. They'll save Shiro and Lance.


	3. Chapter 3

Lance shivers. He hates the cold unless it's water. He can swim in any temperature of water and feel at ease, but the cold in general? That's miserable for Lance.

Who knows how long it's been since Lotor was here. Lotor just comes and goes. This is only his second day here but he knows that Lotor has something up his sleeves.

 _I wish I could get these chains off. They're so irritating._

Lance tugs at the chains on his wrists. The ones on his ankles are less annoying but his leg is killing him. It's probably infected by now.

 _¡Mierda estos cadenas estúpido!_

A chill runs up Lance's spine.

"Blue paladin, how do you fare?"

Lotor walks in the freezing room with a druid with him.

"Great. You just gotta love the freezing air and the smell of an infected wound. And the feeling is even better." Lance says sarcastically, smiling.

"I'm glad you can joke around despite your situation. I've come to ask you a few questions. Hopefully you'll make this easy for the both of us." Lotor says.

"And here I thought you came back for my company." Lance says.

Lotor chuckles.

"First question my little blue, what is your name? That should be simple enough." Lotor asks.

"You're supposed to ask for the name before you hold someone captive." Lance replies.

Lotor walks closer to Lance and grab his face, sticking two sharp claws into his cheek. Lance winces.

"Funny Blue but tell me your name. No harm in that right." Lotor says.

"The name's Lance." Lance responds.

Lotor let's go of Lance's face.

"Lance. What a lovely name. That wasn't hard to say now was it." Lotor says.

Lance smirks.

"I have to keep things interesting, right?" Lance says.

"Of course, you wouldn't be the wild paladin if you didn't." Lotor replies.

"I think you're thinking of red Lotor. He's the one who rushes into things." Lance says.

"Nonsense, everyone knows that the blue paladin is the flirtatious, irresponsible, immature, reckless one. The one who seeks attention. The extravagant one." Lotor responds.

The words hit Lance in an open wound. Lance knew that's what many people think of him and he always tried to brush it off, but it still hurts whenever he hears it.

"That's a lot of words to describe me. I prefer the fun, handsome one. It fits me better." Lance says.

Lotor laughs.

"Yes I guess you do. Next question _Lance,_ " Lotor emphasizes the name, "What did you acquire by sneaking on to my ship?"

"A huge cut in my leg, a galra prince abducting me, a freezing room, and irritating chains." Lance lists.

"Smart answer. Let me rephrase that then, what did your team plan to get from sneaking aboard my ship?" Lotor rephrases.

"All of our freedom. Guess we failed at that." Lance replies.

"I'm tired of the joking answers. Tell me now, what did your team try to acquire by coming here?" Lotor asks again.

"Or what you'll stab your claws into my face again?" Lance challenges.

"Much worse than that my little paladin." Lotor says then signals the druid.

The druid sends a painful energy bolt to Lance's body and Lance bites back a scream as hard as he can.

The bolt lasts for about 30 seconds until Lotor signals to stop.

Lance pants. Those chains on him conduct electricity painfully well.

"Now what did you plan to accomplish coming here?" Lotor asks.

"No voy revelar tú nada." Lance responds.

Lotor gives an interested smile and signals the druid again.

This time the bolt is more painful and lasts longer. Lance screams this time.

"Your other language will not save you Lance." Lotor says.

Lotor signals to stop after a minute or so.

Lance begins to breathe very heavily. His entire body screams in pain.

"Once more I'll ask, what was your purpose in coming here?" Lotor asks once more.

Lotor puts his hand gently on Lance's cheek.

"It's a simple question. Just answer it and you won't have to feel anymore pain. I'll even be nice and won't ask anymore questions for today. This is only my second question Lance. Can you really go through more today?" Lotor says gently, as if he truly cares.

"I won't answer." Lance says boldly.

Lotor steps back and signals once again.

Lance screams at the top of his lungs. The pain is unbearable. He can feel the burning electricity in his body. It hurts so much.

Lotor signals to stop after a while and Lance head drops, no longer able to keep it up. Lance struggles for air.

Lotor puts his hand under Lance's chin lifts his head up ever so gently.

"All this can end. You have nothing to lose answering my question. The other paladins are long gone by now so you aren't protecting them. Of course if you want to keep trying to not tell me then we can keep this up until it's unbearable and you fall unconscious." Lotor says.

Lance shudders. He doesn't want another bolt like that in his body. It feels terrible, like his lungs are being fried.

"We…we needed information on a planet that we didn't have." Lance says lowly.

"Why Lance? What's so important about this planet?" Lotor asks.

"You said that would be your last question." Lance replies.

Lance sees Lotor raise his hand and he flinches, bracing himself for the pain.

Instead he feels a hand slink around his waist and another caressing his face softly.

"I promise you this is the last one you'll have to answer today. Just one last answer my little paladin and then it's over." Lotor says, almost soothingly.

Lance hesitate. He doesn't want to tell but he also doesn't want another bolt of energy coursing through his body.

"We needed to find the black paladin. He may be on that planet." He finally answers, forcing air from his burning lungs to speak.

Lotor lets go of Lance and steps back.

"The black paladin. I see. Well then, good job today Blue. We will continue this soon. Until then _Lance_." Lotor says and then leaves with the druid.

Lance drops his head in relief, exhaustion, and disappointment. He shouldn't have told Lotor that. What if he does go after them? It'll all be his fault. They'll be in danger because he couldn't hold out against the pain.

 _I'd be considered reckless and irresponsible again. It'd be all my fault._

But at least he is beginning to feel his lungs again. Those energy bolts were hell. Who knows how many times will he have to go through that? Lotor said he'll continue questioning him another day. Will he be shocked again for refusing to answer? Will he give in again to the pain?

 _No. If it puts them in danger then I won't say a thing. I'll take the pain._

Lance resolves in his mind that he won't endanger his team even if it means that he'll be in a whole lot of pain.

Time passes and Lance is finally starting to lose the shocking feeling in his bones.

After a while the door to his dark room open. A druid walks in. Internally Lance is preparing for the pain he just began to lose.

He is surprised though when the druid tends to his leg.

"The prince ordered for your infected leg to be healed, saying _**his**_ paladin shouldn't have to deal with an infection." The druid says to him, emphasizing the word "his".

Lotor ordered for his leg to be healed? Why would he do that? Why not just let him suffer with the pain?

Lance doesn't question it aloud though. He rather be healed than in pain.

He feels a soothing cool feeling in his leg, a drastic change from the stinging feeling of the wound.

When the druid is finish, they leave without another spoken word and once again Lance is left alone in the cold dark room.


	4. Chapter 4

Torturous weeks pass by for Lance. Each day is worse. The questions become more intrusive. The punishments become more painful. The pain in his body becomes more apparent. Before he was able to ignore the pain to a certain degree after Lotor left. Now it's all he can feel.

Lance hangs from his chains, his deadweight body covered in dirt and blood. His armor was taken from him a while ago, leaving him a thin fabric. The cold seems even worse now.

Lance feels his stomach turn again. He hasn't eaten in who knows how long. He's to a point of hunger where he's no longer hungry. He feels sick at just the thought of food.

He hears footsteps from outside his door and subconsciously lift his heavy legs up a bit, trying to hide from the pain.

The door opens and light floods the room. It hurts Lance's eyes, he's been in the dark for two days now. The cold, lonely, unforgiving dark, with nothing but the scent of his blood and the shooting pain in his body to remind him that he's alive and this isn't a nightmare he can wake up from.

Lance weakly raises his head to see the prince in front of him. A few weeks ago Lance would've said a witty remark to the galra's presence, but now, he knows to keep his mouth shut or else.

"Dear Lance, it feels like I haven't seen you in days now. I hope you enjoyed your little break." Lotor says.

Lance actually hated his "break". It left him to himself to think, and he thought of nothing good. Lotor left him with too much to think of.

 _Lance's body shook as burning air rushed to his lungs. He was submerged in some purple liquid that he could somehow breath in. It was fine surprisingly._

 _That is until he was pulled up out of it after five minutes._

 _The transition from breathing liquid to breathing air burned his lungs like crazy. He felt like a fish out of water, shaking and gasping for air. He even tried to let himself be put back in the liquid if it would stop the flames in chest._

 _Lotor held him high though to make sure he suffers._

" _You could've avoided this Lance if only you answered my question." Lotor said._

 _Lance didn't reply. He just wanted the burning to stop._

" _Look at you. You've been here suffering by yourself trying to protect the people who don't even care about you. They left you all alone for so long. You're unwanted paladin. You'll be here with me forever." Lotor said._

 _Lance shut his eyes close as if that can block the sound. He furiously shook his head no._

" _It's a shame that you still believe that they're coming to save you. You mean nothing to them. A title means nothing. They can always find another blue paladin." Lotor taunted._

 _Lance continued to shake his head no. It isn't true._

 _Lotor sighed and chained Lance back to the wall._

" _You'll see one day Lance." Lotor said._

 _And with that he left, leaving Lance to hear his words repeat over and over._

Lotor's words stayed in his mind for those two days by himself. He didn't believe it. He knew his team cared for him and if not the entire team he knew Hunk and Pidge did. He didn't believe that they would leave him here. They're probably just trying to come up with a strategy.

But either way the words stayed with him, torturing him and adding salt to his wounds. Part of him always thought that he was just the seventh wheel when it came to the team, but he never wanted to believe it.

"Well whether you did or you didn't, your break is over. Now to continue where we left off. I do remember that you refused to answer my last question despite the punishment. Are you willing to be more cooperative now?" Lotor says.

"No." Lance replies.

Lotor shakes his head.

"That's not the right answer Lance, try again." Lotor says.

"I don't want to answer your questions. I won't answer them any more." Lance responds.

"Bad answer Blue." Lotor says.

Lotor takes his blade and stabs it into Lance's shoulder.

Lance clenches his teeth to prevent himself from screaming. His shoulder burns as if the blade lodged in it was on fire.

"Now I'll ask the same question I asked last time, how did you defeat my father?" Lotor says.

"I won't answer. It's not like you seem to be grieving over his defeat or anything." Lance replies.

Lotor pushes the blade further and twists it in the wound.

A long string of curses in Spanish come from Lance.

"I don't think you understand, you will answer me eventually." Lotor says.

Lance shakes his no, trying his best to ignore the twisting blade in his shoulder.

Lotor smiles and kicks Lance full force in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"I must say, I do not understand why you refuse to answer this question. What could you be possibly trying to protect?" Lotor comments.

Lotor yanks out the blade from Lance's shoulder. Lance hisses.

"¡Caramba!" Lance says.

"You must be in pain human. If only you would learn your lesson." Lotor states.

"What can I say, I don't learn. Just like how you're not learning from your father's mistake in going against us. You'll end up just like him." Lance says.

Lotor hand shoots up and around Lance's throat.

"You should know by now that isn't something wise to say." Lotor growls.

Lotor applies pressure, choking Lance.

"There is no us. Your team abandoned you. You're all alone. Unwanted and not needed. Furthermore I am nothing like my father. He was so obsessed with capturing Voltron and that lead to his defeat. I am much smarter than him and I will be greater than him." Lotor growls out.

More and more pressure was applied with each word. Lance begins to gag as his airways feel like they're being crushed.

"No más, no más por favor, lo siento. " Lance whimpers out.

"I don't speak your language my dear Lance." Lotor says still keeping a painful amount of pressure around his neck.

Lance tries to think of the English translation of what he's saying. When he's in bad situations all his knowledge of English seem to leave his mind.

Lance pulls on his chains trying to move his hands.

"Lo siento. Lo siento. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lance chokes out.

Lotor let's go of Lance's throat. Lance coughs hard. He's really surprised his lungs still work since he's constantly painfully losing air.

"How cute. Are you really sorry my little paladin?" Lotor responds with a sinister smile.

"Sí sí yes." Lance says.

Lotor puts a hand on Lance's cheek gently. Lance is thrown off by that as he expected another hit.

"Good. You know you've been switching more now as if you are limited in, what you humans call, English. Tell me why." Lotor says, as if he's genuinely interested, putting his hand down to rest.

Lance hesitates. Telling Lotor about Spanish feels like spitting on his culture but he doesn't want to be hurt again. He's sure next time will be worse.

"It's not my first thing… that thing ese palabra…idioma… umm what's the word in English," Lance starts, trying to think of the word in English, truly not able to recall the word.

He's too busy worrying about these punishments that his mind always seem to shut down the English part.

Lotor gives an amused look.

"Language! That's the word. English isn't my first language. I feel more comfortable speaking that than English." Lance completes.

"How interesting. I do not speak this language first either. Though I do not switch like you do." Lotor says.

"I do it often. It's easier than English. I spoke to someone completely not in English and didn't realize until I saw their confused looks. It comes naturally to me." Lance replied.

Lance recalls fondly of when he talked to Shiro completely in Spanish once. He didn't realize that he was until Shiro seemed completely lost. He completely forgot about English.

Lotor chuckles.

"It seems that brings up a good memory for you. Your language seems interesting. You know your memory seems to lighten up your face making your gorgeous blue eyes shine more." Lotor says.

Lance stares in surprise. Is he flirting with him?

"Weren't you just choking and beating the crap out of me a few seconds ago?" Lance asks before he can think against it.

Lancry flinches when he realize what he just asked. He doubts that Lotor will let that pass.

"Dear Lance you need to learn how to control that mouth of yours. That's exactly why you are viewed as the least useful paladin, you never think before acting or speaking." Lotor says.

Another internal hit. Another thing to make Lance feel guilty.

Lotor places a claw under Lance's chin and raises his head a bit.

"I'll let it pass this time. Do not expect me to be so kind next time." Lotor states.

Lance let's go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. He's lucky on that one, but why is Lotor suddenly being so nice?

 _I'm totally about to die aren't I?_

Lotor steps closer to Lance and begins to unchain him. Lance's already crappy breathing stops in his throat. Last time he was unchained he had to suffer through that liquid and burning air.

Lance shakes his head no.

"No, no, no, no." He mutters.

Lotor ignores him though and takes all the chains off of him. He holds Lance before he can fall and carries him bridal style.

In the brighter light, Lance sees how filthy he really is. His clothing is all torn too and he has deep red marks from his chains on his wrists and ankles. He must look terrible with all the bruises, blood, and dirt on him.

Lotor carries him to a large, magnificent bedroom. Lance's eyes land on the bed. He hasn't seen a bed in so long let alone sleep on one. He misses sleeping on a bed and not standing up while trying to sleep. And oh how he misses the blankets to keep him warm.

Lotor carries him to a room inside that bedroom, the bathroom. The gigantic pool like structure is filled with a sweet liquid that can be smelled from where Lance is.

Lotor stands Lance up and takes off Lance's torn and dirty shirt. Lance looks down to see that all his bruises have turned abnormal colors. That isn't good.

Lotor begins to pull down Lance's pants but Lance grabs them in a reaction.

"What are you doing?!" Lance asks incredulously.

"I do believe you humans call this a 'bath'. I thought you would love to have one to clean all the dirt and blood off of you." Lotor says.

With another pull Lotor pulls down Lance's pants and Lance hesitantly steps out of them. He stands awkwardly in his briefs. He doesn't want to take those off in front of Lotor.

"Don't be shy my Blue. You are mine so I can see and do whatever with your body as I please." Lotor says giving a teasing tug at the briefs.

Lance's face heats up. The insinuations in that comment is enough to make anyone blush.

Lance doesn't want to take off his briefs but the idea of a bath is so tempting. He'll probably never have another chance like this. With that thought Lance takes them off and looks away.

Lotor lifts him up once more and sets him in the water surprisingly gentle. The water stings the second it touched the bruises and open wounds but the heat felt so good.

"Tan tibia. Tan bueno." Lance murmurs in the water.

"Does it feel good Lance? Do you enjoy this feeling of warmth?" Lotor asks.

"Mhmm." Lance replies.

"Good. Clean yourself up. I'll return later. Enjoy yourself paladin. You never know when you will ever have it again by the looks of our situation." Lotor says.

"What do you mean?" Lance asks.

"You haven't been cooperating lately. You should consider yourself lucky to be alive. Though if you were better you could have this more often. Give me what I want and I will give you what you want. That's how it works my Lance." Lotor responds then leaves.

 _If I was better? That seems to be the conditional for many things in my life._

 _(Flashback)_

" _Watch it you idiot! Pay attention to where you move!" Keith yelled through the com._

" _Maybe if you saw that attack I wouldn't have had to move so quickly to dodge it." Lance replied._

" _I don't think now is the time to be fighting each other when that thing out there is trying to kill us. I don't know, I'm just saying." Hunk said._

" _Hunk is right. We need to work together to beat this thing." Shiro said._

" _No problema. Let's kick this thing's butt." Lance replied._

" _That's what we've been trying to do Lance." Pidge said._

 _You could practically hear her rolling her eyes._

" _This thing just isn't going down. These druids sure know how to make some tough beasts." Hunk said._

" _Just stay focus and we'll be able to defeat this one like we always do." Shiro responded._

 _They fought against this beast trying everything they could. All of them were waiting for one of their lions to tell them something, to give Voltron an idea._

 _Lance attention, however, is caught by a scream. He looks around and sees a mother carrying a small child and running from two galra soldiers._

" _Guys that woman down there needs help. We have to help her she has a kid." Lance said._

" _We have bigger problems right now Lance." Shiro replied._

" _Yeah now's not the time for you to go flirt." Keith added._

" _I'm not trying to flirt, I'm being serious. She needs our help." Lance argued._

 _His response went unheard. He looked back down to the woman. They chased her through the trees._

" _That leads to a dead end. She'll be caught that way." Lance said to himself._

 _Lance made up his mind._

" _Come on Blue, we need to help her." Lance said to his lion._

 _He broke apart from Voltron and landed Blue. He ran the way they went._

" _What the hell are you doing Lance! You just broke up Voltron. Get your ass back here now!" Keith said angrily._

 _Lance ignored him and continued going. His teammates shouted at him to get back to his lion but he doesn't listen._

" _I'm sorry, please don't hurt me or my girl." Lance heard the mother said._

" _How dare you attack a galra soldier. You will pay for that." One of the soldiers said._

 _When they get into view Lance aimed his weapon. He shot one of them in the back. The other soldier turned around around and charged at Lance. Lance dodged the hits as quickly as he could, trying to get a good aim again. When he finally does he fired and hit the soldier square in the chest._

 _Lance hurried over to the alien mother. She had two pairs of arm and two pairs of orange eyes._

" _Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for saving us." The mother said, hugging him with one pair of arms as she still held her child._

" _Anytime Mam. Is your child okay?" Lance replied._

" _Yes yes she's fine. They were going to beat her so I hit them and ran away with her." The mother said._

 _The little alien girl, a spitting image of her mother, peeked her head out of her mother's arms._

" _Aww you're adorable little one." Lance said._

 _The toddler giggles and holds her two pairs of arms out towards him. Lance lifts her up and hugs her._

 _Lance smiled as the little girl kissed him on his cheek._

" _I can't thank you enough for saving us. Thank you, I thought no one was going to help us." The mother said._

 _Lance felt joy in his heart every time he heard her say thank you. No one ever really thanks him. They just keep on moving or yell at him for apparently just being there._

" _Trust me, your thank yous are enough. It's lovely to hear it. I'm just glad to help. Come on I'll bring you back to your home. I'll make sure no one hurts you." Lance said to the mother._

 _He carried the girl as he walked with the mother. After he brought them back safely he headed back to his lion._

 _When he got back to Blue he saw the other paladins waiting for him. The monster was gone so they must've defeated it._

 _Keith stormed up to Lance._

" _Who the hell do you think you are running off like that!" Keith yelled in his face._

" _The woman and her kid needed help. I wasn't going to let them get caught and probably killed." Lance replied._

" _We could've died because of you!" Keith shouted._

 _Lance breath hitched at the thought of his team dying because of him. He doesn't show that the comment bothered him though._

" _You guys defeated the beast." Lance argued._

" _No thanks to you!" Keith responded._

" _Let's head back to the castle now. Allura wants to talk to us." Shiro said._

 _The look Lance received told him Shiro wasn't happy with what Lance did either._

 _They went back to their lions and flew to the castle. When they got to the main room, Allura turned around, not happy at all._

" _That was the most irresponsible thing you have ever done! What were you thinking! You put your teammates in danger. You are fortunate they were able to defeat the beast without you." Allura scolded._

" _The mother needed help. I couldn't just let her and her kid get hurt." Lance responded._

" _Allura is right Lance. You're on a team, you can't just pull reckless stunts like that." Shiro said._

" _You didn't say that when Keith ran off by himself earlier in the battle." Lance argued._

" _This isn't about Keith, Lance. Besides we weren't fighting a giant monster when Keith ran off." Pidge said._

" _I don't see why you guys are so mad. I saved a woman and her toddler. Besides you guys apparently didn't need me anyways." Lance said, mumbling the last part._

" _It's nice that you saved that lady but we really had difficulty when Voltron broke apart. Just try not to do that again okay bud." Hunk replied._

 _Lance sighed. He wasn't going to win this._

" _Sure no problem. Team, together, got it." Lance said, giving a big smile._

 _Hunk smiled back. The others don't though._

" _If you'll excuse me I'm going to go take a shower now." Lance said._

 _He walked out the room whistling a tune._

" _He always acts like everything's a game." He heard Keith say._

" _Has he always been irresponsible?" Allura asked._

" _Just about." Pidge answered._

" _He has to do better then if he is a paladin of Voltron." Allura said._

 _Lance continued walking to his room, keeping his smile on. He knows to keep the smile until he gets to his room._

 _He knows not to show that his feelings are actually hurt._

 _(End flashback)_

Lance cups water in his hand and drops it back then sighs. These were the type of thoughts that went through his head while he was alone for two days.

Better. He needed to be better even though he did the hero thing. He thought he did the right thing. So why did he need to be better?

That wasn't the only time either where his team wanted him to be better. It happened plenty of times before and after. Sometimes they told him, other times they just gave him a disappointed look.

Lance knew though they didn't see him how they viewed each other. He was the irresponsible paladin. The attention seeker, the flirter, the joker. He was the one they scolded when something went wrong. He was the one who played too much.

He knew it and it hurt him like crazy. But he just smiled and kept and joking, even insulting himself, to hide his pain. He always hid that he felt like he didn't belong. He didn't want them to have another thing to scold him on.

 _Why am I not better?_


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure this is the right place? We've been searching this planet for three days now." Pidge says.

"I know it is. That information was thoroughly searched and this is the last of the parts of the planet that he could survive on for this long." Keith replies.

"I knew I should've checked it myself." Pidge mumbles under her breath.

Keith ignores the comment. He, Allura, and Coran all checked over that information. There were only 4 places on this planet that a human could possibly survive for long. This is the last place they didn't check. Shiro has to be here.

"Guys maybe we should pick up the pace. This planet creeps me out it. Something about it." Hunk says.

"I do say it is strange that such a diverse planet has no inhabitants. Surely this planet can sustain multiple life forms." Allura says through the com.

"It's kinda like Earth. One region is really warm, another is really cold. It's amazing that this have different climates throughout the planet." Pidge says fascinated.

"Yeah except the cold over here is really cold, too cold…" Hunk adds but fades away.

His thoughts go to Lance. Lance hates cold temperatures. He was born and raised in the warmth. He really misses Lance. He was supposed to be here searching for Shiro with them. Now they're searching for Shiro to save him.

Pidge knows what's going on in Hunk's head and puts her hand on his arm.

"Hey come on, we're going to get him back as soon as we find Shiro. The sooner we do this the sooner we get to save him." She tells him.

"You're right, let's go." Hunk says.

The three continue on, passing vibrant colors and weird looking plants.

Keith suddenly stops.

"Did you hear that?" He asks.

"No hear what?" Pidge replies.

"It must be his galra hearing." Hunk loudly whispers.

Keith rolls his eyes.

"I heard that you know." Keith says.

"Oh he's good." Hunk mumbles.

Keith shakes his head then looks around.

"There's something here and I know it. Keep your eyes open." Keith says.

They walk cautiously looking around for anything. They haven't run into life yet on this planet other than plants so they don't know what could appear.

"Uh guys I think that bush just moved." Hunk says, hiding behind Keith.

"I think you're seeing things-" Pidge cuts off when she sees the bush move herself.

"Or you're totally correct, that could be true too." She says, hiding behind Hunk herself.

"I guess I have to check it out since you two clearly aren't." Keith says.

He approaches the bush slowly, bayard in hand. He moves the bush slightly, ready to attack.

He calms down though when a little furry creature with a fluffy tail, long ears and adorable eyes comes out of the bush staring up at him. ( _Think eevee_ )

"Aww it's so cute." Hunk says coming closer to the creature.

"What is it?" Keith asks.

Pidge bends down and the creature jumps in her arms.

"It's so soft. I can't believe we finally found some life on this planet." Pidge comments.

The creature licks her cheeks and she laughs.

"It's friendly. I like friendly." Hunk says.

"It's cute and all but we have to find Shiro guys. That's why we're here." Keith says.

"Right, right. Maybe this little guy can help." Pidge suggests.

"If you think so though I don't see how." Keith responds.

Pidge sets the creature down.

"Do you think you can help us find our friend? We really need to find him quickly. This is what he looks like." Pidge says showing it a picture of Shiro.

The creature stares at the photo. Then it scurries into the bushes.

"Do you think we scared it?" Hunk asks.

The creature peeks it head out of the bushes, looks at them then back in again.

"I think it wants us to follow it." Keith says.

The three go through the bushes after the creature. The creature waited for them to catch up then continues on. They chase after it.

"I hope this thing isn't taking us on a wild goose chase." Keith mumbles to himself.

The creature leads them all the way to an area covered in plants. There's no longer a pathway to walk on, just grass, trees, flowers and hanging vines.

The creature nudges at Pidge's leg, telling her to go through the hanging vines, that are acting like a curtain.

The three look at each other and nod. They push away the vines, stepping through.

A bunch of creatures, similar to the one they followed come running to them.

"There's a bunch of them, and they're different colors and different styles." Hunk says.

"That one looks like it's wearing a bow, and that one looks like it has socks on." Pidge points out.

"But where's Shiro?" Keith asks.

One of the creatures run back through the trees it came from. It comes back after a few seconds looking back constantly.

"Hey wait up."

Shiro walks in after it, looking perfectly fine.

"SHIRO!" The three shout.

They run and tackle him in a hug.

"Guys. I can't believe you're here. How did you find me? I couldn't contact you guys no matter how hard I tried." Shiro says.

"That's a long story. We'll tell you when we get back to the castle." Keith responds, as they all let go of Shiro.

"Allura, we found Shiro thanks to these friendly creatures. We're on our way back now." Pidge says through her com.

"Splendid. We'll be waiting for you." Allura responds.

"Come on. Let's go." Keith says.

"You guys think you can lead us back to our lions?" Pidge asks the creatures.

They all begin to scurry away and the four paladins follow them. The creatures lead them back to their lions.

"Shiro you'll ride in red with me." Keith says.

Hunk and Pidge lift up as many of the creatures they can in their arms.

"Thanks little guys. You guys are the best." Hunk says.

The original one that led them to Shiro climbs up to Pidge's shoulder and licks her cheek again.

"You think Allura would let me keep this one?" Pidge asks.

"Only one way to find out. Besides they're really friendly and they'll practically eat anything you give them though I think they like plants the most." Shiro answers.

"Would you like to stay with me?" Pidge asks the creature.

It licks her cheek repeatedly.

Pidge sets down the creatures in her arms and runs to grab a bunch of plants to have for the creature.

When she's done they all climb into their lions and fly to the castle. Pidge lands her lion in its hangar and heads over to Red's hangar.

When she gets to the hangar she sees Allura and Coran waiting for them all. Pidge has a small flashback to the last time she flew back from a mission and they were waiting for her.

At least this mission was a success and they didn't lose anyone this time. At least now they can start to focus on saving Lance.

Keith and Shiro step out of the lion and Allura gives Shiro a big, tight hug.

"I am so glad you are okay." Allura says.

"I kinda can't breathe Princess." Shiro responds.

"Oh sorry." Allura says letting go of him.

"Pidge who's that on your shoulder?" Coran asks.

"It's the little creature that helped us find Shiro. I was wondering if I can keep it." Pidge answers.

"It's so cute. What does it eat?" Allura says.

"Shiro says it eats anything but I also grabbed some plants for it to eat." Pidge responds.

"Of course you can keep it Pidge. How can I say no to something so cute." Allura says.

"Alright! I'm going to name you Sirius like the star because of your fluffy white fur around your neck." Pidge says.

Sirius licks Pidge and Pidge smiles.

"Come on now let's get going we have a lot to talk about." Allura says.

They all head to the lounging area and Pidge, Hunk, and Keith crash on the couch.

"So Shiro tell us everything, you've been gone for quite a long time." Allura says.

"Not much happened. Those little creatures kinda just stayed with me and brought me to stuff like water. It's only been five days so I wasn't in much trouble about shelter and food and stuff." Shiro says.

"Wait a minute, it hasn't been five days Shiro. It's been five months you've been gone." Keith says, sitting up now.

Shiro gives a confused look.

"I'm sure it's only been five days since I landed on that planet." Shiro responds.

"He's right though Shiro. You've been gone for five of your Earth months." Coran states.

"How is that possible?" Shiro asks.

"It's possible that a day there is longer than our timing." Pidge says.

Her eyes widen and she shoots up.

"Hunk, if time there is different and we spent three days on that planet, that means…" Pidge voice fades out, as she pales.

Hunk catches what Pidge means and a worry look shows on his face.

"Oh quiznack. Allura, how long have we been on that planet in our time?" Hunk asks.

"Let me check." Allura says, "It's been about three months."

Allura finally catches on to what's the problem.

"This isn't good at all!" She exclaims.

"What's wrong? What's the commotion about?" Shiro asks.

"When we found a clue about where you could be, we had to go get more information. That meant we had to sneak on Lotor's ship and steal the information we needed. We got the information but…" Hunk explains but can't finish.

"We lost Lance. He made sure Pidge got out safe but ended up getting trapped on that ship by himself, injured and without his bayard." Keith finishes.

"Who's Lotor?" Shiro asks.

"He's Zarkon's son and the prince of the galras. He's cruel and heartless. He takes extreme pleasure in torturing his prisoners. He's worse than his father." Allura answers.

"And we just left Lance alone with that monster for three months." Pidge says, still in shock.

"DAMMIT!" Keith yells, clenching his fists.

"Allura do you think Lance is…" Hunk asks, not able to even say the word.

"I know he's alive. But if he is fine I do not know. Surely Lotor has done plenty to him by now." Allura responds.

Pidge falls backward and Keith catches her and stands her upright again.

"It's my fault he's stuck there. I should've been paying attention. We could've both gotten out of there." Pidge says.

"It isn't your fault Pidge." Hunk tells her.

"Wait so let me get this straight. You guys snuck on a galra ship for information to find me, Lance saved Pidge and got her out safely, Lance got stuck on that ship injured and unable to fight, and now he's been on there for three months with a sadistic prince as his captor. Did I get all that?" Shiro summarizes.

"Yes you pretty much got it all." Coran says.

Shiro scratches his head.

"That's a lot to come back to." Shiro mumbles.

"We should've went to him first. Pidge was right. If we would've went to him first he could've been saved by now. I'm so stupid." Keith says.

"Don't beat yourself up. Coran and Allura agreed with you that finding Shiro would be better and that we couldn't save Lance on our own." Hunk says, trying to stay as positive as humanly possible in this situation.

"No don't say that Hunk! We could've saved him by ourselves. Shiro was safe, Lance isn't. We knew that Lotor was dangerous and we left Lance with him. Even if we failed to save him at least he wouldn't be alone on that ship anymore. He would have someone with him there to help keep his spirit up." Pidge argues.

"Pidge you know that doesn't sound right. I understand you are mad about this but if this Lotor guy is as bad as you guy say then you three wouldn't come out of that ship at all and if you did it would definitely be without Lance. I promise you though that we will save Lance. We leave no paladin behind. Not for long anyways." Shiro says.

"Shiro is right. We'll save Lance as soon as we can. All we can do now is find where Lotor is and come up with a plan to make sure everyone including Lance gets back here safely." Allura adds.

"I'm going to the training deck." Keith mumbles as he leaves.

Pidge sighs.

"Come on Sirius lets go get settled then we can come back and help." Pidge says.

Pidge and Sirius leave the room.

"I believe you Allura but I'm really worried for him." Hunk says.

"I am too."


	6. Chapter 6

Back and forth has been the only way to describe these past few weeks for Lance.

One minute Lotor is beating the crap out of him telling him how worthless he is then the next minute he's all caring and compassionate towards Lance. It's been completely disorienting.

Sometimes he honestly believes that Lotor worries for him. The way Lotor would gently touch and hold him. Those days where Lotor punished Lance to the point where Lance couldn't stay conscious always seemed to blur because the day after or whenever he woke up, Lotor would be so kind to him. Lance doesn't know if the beatings are just getting to his head or if he actually believes this.

Today was one of those "beaten to a pulp" days. Lance hangs from his chains in pure misery. It's been months since he was captured and he feels so broken. No longer able to joke away the pain, Lance felt the hatred of life he always used to feel when he was younger.

Today Lotor made sure to remind him of his place, to remind him that he is a prisoner and his life is a gift at this point. Lotor made sure that Lance knew that he owned him. Lance was Lotor's play toy and nothing else. Lance knew he was nothing.

Lance already darkened vision begins to blur as tears swell up in his eyes.

For the first time in his captivity Lance breaks down and cries. He cries because he's in physical pain. He cries because he's all alone. He cries because his team left him here to suffer for so long. He cries because he thought he meant something to someone. He cries because he knows he's not worth anything. He cries because he's unwanted. He cries because he's not needed.

"Ayúdenme. Por favor." He whimpers out.

His soul feels broken along with his body. It hurts. He's hurting. He's in so much pain physically and emotionally and he doesn't know what to do.

He flinches as he hears the sound of footsteps approach his dark room. He didn't expect Lotor to be back so soon.

The door opens and his nightmare walks in.

Lance tries to hide his face and his tears. His tears burn him as if they are another one of his bruises.

Lotor walks to Lance when he notices Lance trying to look away.

"What's wrong my dear paladin? Trying to hide from me?" Lotor says.

Lotor turns Lance's head towards him and sees the tears still streaming down Lance's face.

"Déjame en paz. Leave me alone." Lance weakly says, his voice cracking.

"What's this? My blue is crying. A new sight. What made you cry my dear Lance?" Lotor says.

"You don't care so just go away or beat me again. I don't need fake pity from anyone." Lance replies.

Lotor looks at him in surprise.

"How long has it been since your capture?" Lotor asks.

Lance chokes on his words as his tears continue to fall.

"Months." Lance whispers.

"It's a shame. Here I would've thought that the paladins of Voltron would've cared for every one of their paladins especially after father's defeat." Lotor says, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Lance asks.

"The paladins of Voltron, each one is needed to form Voltron. If a single one was missing then you wouldn't have been able to defeat my father. It would then be logical to assume that they would at least try to get their paladin back even if they didn't care for you as an individual." Lotor explains.

Lance begins to cry harder. They don't even respect him enough as a paladin.

"Tell me Blue, do you feel wanted?" Lotor asks.

Lance doesn't answer.

"Do you feel needed? Do you feel respected? Do you think your team accepts you for as you are? Or do they reject you and dismiss you? Are you just a burden they carry?" Lotor continues.

"Stop it! ¡Ya basta!" Lance shouts turning his head away from him.

Lotor gently grabs Lance's face and makes him look him in the eyes again.

"Aren't you tired of being the laughing stock? Are you not tired of pretending that everything is fine? Are you not tired of laughing everything away to ignore the pain?" Lotor asks.

Lotor gently wipes away Lance's tears with his free hand.

"I can take that all away for you Lance." Lotor says.

"You can?" Lance asks weakly.

"Yes of course I can. I can make all your pain go away Lance, only if you stay with me." Lotor replies.

"Stay with you?" Lance questions.

It's not like he has much of a choice, he's a prisoner.

"The galra needs someone like you. I need you. Your skills are amazing. You took down so many of my galra soldiers just with your bayard. You were observant enough to see that your fellow paladin was in danger and you protected him. You withstood months trapped here. I need someone as brave and skilled as you Lance. You can be my second in command. I need you." Lotor says, staring into Lance's eyes.

"You need me?" Lance whispers.

Lotor lets go of Lance, walks to the door and opens it, letting a druid in.

The druid stands in front of Lance and Lotor stands next to Lance.

"He isn't going to hurt you I promise. Just listen to me Lance and look at him. You will be alright. With me you can exact revenge for what they did to you. You can show them that you are important." Lotor says.

The druid sends a beam towards Lance but it doesn't hurt. Instead it's actually really soothing. The pain fades away from Lance's mind and body. Soon Lance can't break away from looking at the druid.

"They left you. They took the information you obtained, found the black paladin and left you. They didn't think you were as important as him. You can prove them wrong. You can show them that you mean something. You can show the universe that you mean something. And what better way to do that than to do it with the ones who rule the universe." Lotor states.

Lance's mind begins to blur peacefully. Lotor's words are all he hears.

 _I am important and I'll prove it to everyone._

The druid puts a weird looking purple necklace around Lance's neck. He steps back and Lotor unchains Lance. Lance sinks to his knees.

"Never forget my precious precious Lance," Lotor bends down and whispers in Lance's ear, "I need you."

He places Lance's bayard in front of Lance and leaves with the druid.

Lance stares at his weapon in front of him. He hasn't seen this in months. Just to see it agains feels comforting. He has his security back.

Lotor stands on the other side of the door. He no longer hears crying now.

He walks away with the druid until he is far enough from the door.

"Was it a success?" Lotor asks.

"Yes. He should be completely loyal to you by tomorrow. As long as that necklace remains intact, even if it off his person he will still feel the effects of it." The druid answers.

Lotor smiles wickedly.

"Excellent. I'll finally have my blue paladin all to myself and destroy Voltron using him."


	7. Chapter 7

"Good work Paladins, you were able to defeat all the training gladiators together." Allura commends.

"We did alright. That won't do us much though when fighting against galra soldiers on Lotor's ship." Keith grumbles.

"Now don't be like that Keith. We've been practicing everyday and we've been getting better. The fact that we were able to defeat all of them today is a big improvement." Shiro says.

Sirius runs to Pidge and she picks them up (Pidge found out that their species is genderless and can be either male or female when it comes time for reproducing. Pidge loved that fact.)

"Though I agree with Keith, Shiro is also right. We made a big improvement." Pidge says petting Sirius.

"Yeah I say we did pretty good." Hunk says.

Keith just crosses his arms.

Coran and Allura enter into the room.

"You paladins have improved quite a bit. Ah I remember like it was yesterday when you paladins couldn't defeat them all." Coran says.

"Uh Coran that was yesterday." Pidge says.

"Right right." Coran says.

"You should go clean up now and then meet us later." Allura says.

The four paladins head to their respective to rooms to shower.

They shower and put on their regular clothes.

"Paladins there is an important message for us. Please come now." Allura says over the castle's system.

They all head to the central room to Allura.

"What is it Allura?" Shiro asks.

"We received a message from Shay from the Balmera. Watch." Allura says.

"Shay? Is she okay? Is the Balmera hurt?" Hunk asks.

"Let's just see the message first Hunk." Pidge says.

Allura plays the message.

" _Paladins I hope you receive this message in time. Galra soldiers are on the Balmera again. They said they need crystals. They haven't harmed any of us yet but they are staying an awfully long amount of time. I'm sure by now they gained enough crystals. They are only taking small crystals though, ones that are too small to hold any real energy, but that's what their leader wanted. Their leader has only come out once to give instructions but I heard that his name was Prince Lotor and he does not seem friendly. He spends most of his time in his ship. Please help us, for the Balmera does not like for them to be here or to take it's crystals no matter how small."_

The message ends and the paladins stand in confusion and surprise.

"Lotor is there taking crystals." Pidge says.

"What would he want with small crystals that hold no energy? Why stay for so long?" Allura asks aloud.

"Who cares why. All we know is that he's there taking crystals and he's on that ship with Lance. We have to leave now. This is our chance to save Lance." Keith says.

"Keith is right. We also have to help the Balmera. It helped us plenty of times." Hunk adds.

"Alright then. Everyone should go change then to their lions. We're going to wormhole there and see what's going on." Allura says.

"How are we going to get down there without being spotted?" Hunk asks.

"We can all get in the green lion. I don't think we'll need all our lions for this fight. Besides we can't risk them seeing us first." Shiro says.

"Alright then we're using the green lion. Let's go now." Keith says.

The four of them leave to put back on their armor. This is their chance to get back Lance from Lotor. Who knows what he went through but they can finally save him.

When they finish putting on their armor they head to the green lion and wait. It'll only be a matter of time before they get there.

"Prepare yourselves paladins, we will be there in a few ticks." Allura says to them.

"Here's the plan guys. We go to the balmerians first to make sure they are okay and to see what is going on. Then we sneak on to that ship to save Lance. If we don't have to fight then don't. We want as little confrontation as possible. Remember our main goal is to save Lance. We can get the crystals back later." Shiro says.

They nod.

"We're here. You guys can go now. We will wait up here out of his view. Good luck paladins." Allura says.

Pidge flies the green lion out of her hangar and activates the invisibility cloak. They get down to the Balmera easily and undetected. Pidge lands the green lion out of sight.

"You guys ready?" Shiro asks.

"Let's do this." Keith says.

They leave the lion and head down to the cave system quietly. They haven't seen any soldiers yet.

"Do you guys see any balmerians?" Hunk asks.

"No but I'm sure we'll run into them." Pidge replies.

They continue to walk until they hear voices. Soon they see Shay and her family.

"Shay!" Hunk says.

"Hunk, paladins you're here. Thank you for coming." Shay says.

"No problem Shay. Is everyone alright?" Hunk responds.

"We are fine. They haven't done anything to us. When we try to stop them from taking crystals they just push past us and continue. Wait where is the blue paladin?" Shay says.

"He's kinda held up right now and injured so he couldn't come. But we'll do everything we can to get them off the Balmera and to find out what they need these crystals for." Hunk replies.

"The Balmera thanks you. We can lead you to their ship unnoticed. We know where they are stationed at." Shay says.

"That would be a big help, thank you." Shiro says.

"Follow us." Rax says.

The paladins follow the family through the Balmera past all the soldiers and up to the surface.

"The ship is right there, but there are a lot of guards in there. You may get in but you are bound to run into some soldiers in there." Rax says.

"Thanks, we'll take our chances." Keith responds.

"Paladins move out." Shiro says.

They head aboard the ship cautiously.

"Be on the watch." Shiro whispers.

They walk down the long hallways carefully, aware of everything around them. They finally see a large door and robotic guards there. They hear voices approach from another hall and they hide. It's three galra soldiers with small crystals with them. They head through the door.

"That's where they're bringing the crystals. If Lotor ordered them, then he should be there too, right?" Keith whispers.

"Let's get in that room." Pidge says quietly.

Shiro signals for Keith to go ahead and take care of the guards. Keith runs ahead and slice them in half before they could fire a shot. He places his hand on the scanner and it opens. The others run in after him and hide quickly.

"Hmm these seem better than the last ones. Put them over there, they may do."

The prince's back is turned to them as he examines the crystals that were just brought to him. He dismisses the soldiers.

"I see Lotor but where's Lance?" Hunk whispers.

Pidge shrugs.

"Paladins, I am so glad you could make it. You took an awfully long time to show up." Lotor says with his back still turned.

"How did he know we were here?" Keith asks in surprise.

They cautiously leave their hiding spot, weapons ready. Lotor turns around.

"Did you paladins honestly believe that sneaking aboard my ship would be that easy?" Lotor says with a chuckle.

"How did you know we were here?" Shiro asks.

"You paladins are predictable." Lotor replies.

"Give us back Lance." Keith demands.

"The blue paladin stays with me. Besides you left him for so long, why would you want him now. You got your black paladin at the cost of your blue. Now I'll be kind enough to let you walk out of here without a problem." Lotor says.

"You think we would willingly leave him here with you? He's coming back with us." Pidge says.

"Strong words from the paladin who left him here to begin with." Lotor responds.

"That's enough. Either you give us back Lance or we take him back ourselves." Shiro says.

Lotor smiles.

"You wouldn't be able to get out of the room with him let alone back to your castle." Lotor taunts.

Keith charges at Lotor. Lotor just stands there with his smile never faltering. As soon as Keith gets close enough to attack, a blast is shot by his foot.

"That was a warning shot. The next time I won't be so kind."

The paladins turn to see Lance standing there aiming his weapon at Keith.

"Lance?" Hunk says.

Lance looks terrible. His ankles and wrists are blood red with deep marks on them. His shoulders have discolored bruises that go down his torso, which are thankfully covered by his shirt. His hair is disheveled, his eyes have dark rings around them, and his clothes are stained in blood.

"Lance, why are you aiming at me?" Keith asks confused.

"I can't allow you to attack him, even though that would only mean your funeral." Lance replies, keeping his aim on Keith.

"Don't you just love him. Come here my blue. You can lower your weapon, they won't do anything." Lotor says.

Lance lowers his weapon and walks over to Lotor.

"I found some crystals for you. I think these would look perfect on you." Lotor says to him.

"Wait you've been taking crystals so you can give them to Lance?" Hunk asks.

"Why of course. Anything for my paladin." Lotor responds, caressing Lance's face.

"Don't touch him!" Keith yells.

"Jealous are we red?" Lotor teases.

Keith steps forward again ready to attack but Lance raises his weapon again.

"I wouldn't do that mullet. I'll have you down before you blink." Lance says.

"Lance why are you attacking us? Attack him. He's the one who did that to you." Pidge says.

"Isn't it obvious green, he's with me now. He got so tired and was so hurt of waiting for his so called team to save him that he decided to join me and prove his strength." Lotor responds.

"You're lying. Lance would never join you." Hunk says.

"I'll prove it then. Lance dear attack the red one, without using your weapon. I don't want you to kill him yet." Lotor says.

Lance puts away his bayard and charges at Keith. Keith dodges all his hits but doesn't attack back. By just the looks of it, Lance is throwing some pretty hard hits. It would hurt if he gets hit.

"Lance snap out of it. We're not your enemies." Keith says.

"What's wrong Keith, can't fight back?" Lance taunts.

Hunk runs over and tries to grab Lance but Lance moves too quickly.

"You have to be quicker than that Hunk." Lance laughs.

He tackles Keith to the ground and pins Keith's body down. Keith struggles to get out of his hold.

"I have too many siblings to have a loose grip. You're not breaking free anytime." Lance says.

Pidge tries to help Keith. She grabs Lance by the waist and tries to pull him off.

Lance laughs and breaks free from her grasps without loosening his hold on Keith.

"Sorry sweetheart but you're too small for this. Why don't you go back to your computer." Lance says.

Lance raises his fists to hit Keith.

"Hope you don't mind an addition to your face pretty boy." Lance says.

"Lance that wasn't nice. We're your teammates, now snap out of whatever control he has on you." Shiro says pulling Lance off of Keith before he could punch him.

Lance fights his way out of Shiro's hold. He backs away with a smirk.

"Why yes of course, you are the dad here aren't you. I see the mission was a success, they got you back. Too bad they left me here to suffer." Lance says, with a tone of anger slipping into his voice, but the smirk still on his face.

"We didn't mean to leave you here for so long. If you stopped throwing a hissy fit and come back with us we could explain everything." Keith says, getting aggravated.

Lance stops in his tracks. He clenches his fists and his teeth.

"You didn't mean to leave me here that long? Hissy fit? Who the hell do you think you are Keith? I'll show you a fit!" Lance says in anger.

Lance takes out his bayard again and aims his energy rifle at Keith. Keith gets a good look at his eyes and sees the anger and pain in them. It throws Keith off guard. Lance fires but Shiro moves Keith out of the way. Lance aims again but Pidge pushes him over.

Lance growls.

"Why you diablo pequeña. Pagarás por eso." Lance says getting up.

"We need to retreat. Lance is a skilled marksman. There's not too many times he'll miss." Shiro says.

"But Shiro-" Keith starts.

"We'll come back another time. So unless you want to be killed by his shot you'll follow my order and retreat." Shiro says cutting Keith off.

Lance aims again but Lotor grabs his arm.

"Yes yes retreat paladins. I'll even do you a favor and hold him back. Would you also like my reject piles of crystals? I have the crystals I want for my Lance." Lotor says.

"Hunk grab the crystals, Keith, Pidge start leaving, NOW." Shiro orders.

They all hesitate but follow anyways.

Shiro looks Lance in the eyes and says, "We'll be back for you, I promise."

Shiro and Hunk leave and catch up with Pidge and Keith. They return the crystals to the Balamerians and head back to the green lion. The ride back to the castle was deathly quiet.

Allura and Coran are waiting as they arrive. They solemn look they all had meant something bad happened.

"What happened?" Allura asks.

"Lance attacked us. Lotor said he joined his side but we believe Lotor is controlling him somehow. We had to retreat because Lance was using his energy rifle. He's a sharpshooter, he wouldn't have missed." Shiro explains.

"I can't believe we left him there again!" Keith shouts.

"We had to Keith. He wasn't in his right frame of mind and he would've killed you." Shiro argues.

"But he can't stay there any longer! He's in pain! I saw the anger and pain in his eyes. You saw how terrible he looked. The fact that he attacked us proves that he was tortured and that they did something to him. And we left him there again!" Keith yells.

He storms off and heads to the training deck to release his anger.

"Shiro, I agree with Keith. Lance always treated me as a younger sibling and I just left him there after I promised myself I would bring him back. I refuse to lose two brothers. At least I can save this one." Pidge says.

She walks away and head to her room.

"I'm going to go talk to her and see if I can help her." Allura says then follows after Pidge.

"I'm going to go bake something." Hunk says and head to the kitchen.

Shiro sighs. He made the right decision didn't he?

"Maybe you should go check on Keith. I know he's just angry with himself about all of this." Coran tells Shiro.

Shiro nods and heads to the only place Keith would go when he's angry. The training deck.

As Shiro gets closer to the training deck, he hears the sound of of metal breaking and annoyed grunts.

Shiro walks in to see broken sparring bots on the ground and Keith fighting a sparring robot brutally. Shiro watches as Keith destroys the robot in anger.

"You know Allura is not going to like the fact that you're destroying these robots." Shiro says.

Keith lowers his sword and turns to him.

"Pidge, Hunk, or Coran will fix them. This isn't the first time I broke a robot and I'm sure it won't be the last." Keith responds.

"Listen Keith, I know you're mad that we left him there but you have to understand, it was for the best. That doesn't mean though we're leaving him there for good. We're going to find out what Lotor did to him and we're going to bring him back to us. We just have to be patient and smart." Shiro says.

"Fine but I'm not waiting too long. Who knows what Lotor will do to him the longer he's there. And when we do get him back, I'm going to beat Lotor to a pulp for messing with one of our paladins." Keith replies.

"I think I speak for everyone in this castle when I say that is something we will all join in." Shiro says.

"Lotor will pay for this."


	8. Chapter 8

Lotor let's go of Lance after the paladins left.

"Why did you let them retreat?" Lance asks.

"Simple, to raise fear and disappointment in them. How heartbreaking it must be to be defeated by the very one you threw away. I want them to think about this failure." Lotor answers.

Lance stares at the door. He could've killed one of them with one shot. He doesn't feel happy about that yet he doesn't feel bad.

Lance snaps out of his thoughts when he is lifted up by his throat and brought to Lotor's height.

"I thought I told you, however, to not use your bayard. You went against my orders Lance." Lotor says, choking Lance.

Lance gags.

"I'm…sorry…forgive me." Lance chokes out.

"It's not that easy Lance. You could have killed one of them when I specifically told you to only attack the red one and to not use your weapon." Lotor states calmly.

"I won't…do it…again." Lance forces out.

"Of course you won't." Lotor says dropping Lance to the ground.

Lance coughs hard. He lightly touches his neck and winces at the pain. That's going to bruise.

"Remember Lance, just because you are important to me does not mean you can defy orders. You still must obey my command and you will be punished like everyone else if you disobey." Lotor says, looking down at Lance.

"Of course my Prince. I understand." Lance replies, not daring to look Lotor in the eyes.

Lotor extends his hand to Lance. Lance looks up to see a smile on Lotor's face.

"Come now my precious blue, we have to use the crystals I got you. We can make very nice jewelry for you." Lotor says.

Lance grabs Lotor's hand.

"For me?" Lance asks.

"All for you. Only the best for my blue paladin." Lotor responds.

Lance stands up and follows Lotor.

Lotor got him these crystals. The best crystals he could find.

"By the way, lovely fighting today. They did not know what to do and they could not hold you back. Who would have known that you are stronger than the red paladin. I am very proud of you. I expected no less from someone as amazing as you. My dear Lance you did well today." Lotor commends.

Lance smiles to himself. Someone is actually praising him for something he did. He's actually being acknowledge and he likes it. He did something right. He was better than Keith for once.

But yet something still doesn't feel right. He doesn't know what but something is off.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Pidge, what are you doing?"

Hunk bends down Pidge's level on the ground. He pets Sirius, who is on her shoulder.

"Well last time when we were at the Balmera, I left a device there in Lotor's ship so small that even Lotor won't detect it so easily. It's supposed to help us track their location, so when it's time to get Lance, we'll already know where they are." Pidge explains.

"Awesome what an awesome idea Pidge. Smart thinking." Hunk says.

"Thanks. I just have to do a bit before I can get their coordinates." Pidge replies.

"Have you told Allura about this yet?" Hunk asks.

"Not yet. I want to get the location first before I tell the others. With this we can cut down the time it takes to find Lance." Pidge says.

Hunk watches as Pidge as she type quickly.

"How long have you been on this?" Hunk asks.

"Ever since we couldn't bring back Lance a few days ago. It took a bit to find the signal of the transmitter to begin with." Pidge responds.

"Wow. Wait here, I'm going to bring you some food, I doubt you ate yet for today." Hunk says then runs off to the kitchen.

Pidge continues to work. She's so close to getting this. This is what they need to save Lance.

A sound and a green light tells her that all her work finally came through.

"I did it. I did it! HUNK HUNK I DID IT! IT WORKS!" Pidge shouts excitedly jumping up. Sirius jumps off of her shoulder in surprise.

Hunk runs into the room with a mouthful of space goo.

"HUNK I DID IT LOOK!" Pidge says, lifting it up so Hunk can see.

Hunk swallows his food and looks to see a location on screen.

"You actually got it Pidge. You're the best!" Hunk says lifting Pidge up in a hug.

Allura, with the mice on her shoulder, walks in the room.

"What's with the shouting?" Allura asks.

Hunk sets Pidge down and Pidge shows Allura excitedly.

"Allura, Allura I put a transmitter on Lotor's ship so we can track their location and it works! We have their location!" Pidge says.

Allura looks to see Pidge is correct.

"Oh my stars you did it. This will help us so much. Thank you Pidge." Allura responds, hugging Pidge.

"Let's go tell the others." Hunk says.

"Yes tell them immediately and and get ready. We're going to them and this time they won't expect us hopefully." Allura says, releasing Pidge.

Pidge leaves her device with Allura and her, Hunk, and Sirius runs out of the room to find the others.

"Keith is most likely in the training room and Shiro is probably there making sure he doesn't damage anymore sparring robots." Pidge says.

"Yeah that's true. It sucks having to fix the robots over and over. But come on." Hunk replies.

They go to training room and as expected Keith and Shiro are there.

"Guys guys we have great news." Hunk says.

Keith stops the sparring and turns to them.

"What, Lotor died?" Keith says.

"Okay not that great but pretty awesome news." Hunk replies.

"What is it?" Shiro asks.

"I got the location of Lotor's ship. There's a transmitter on his ship that I planted and I finally got it to work right. We're headed to their location now." Pidge says.

"You mean you found Lance again?" Keith asks.

"Yeah. Allura said to her ready since we're going there now. We may have another chance to get him again." Pidge responds.

"Well let's go then. Pidge you're amazing." Shiro says.

Pidge smiles.

Keith is the first one out of the training room and hurries to go change.

They have another chance to save Lance. Hopefully this time Lance won't try to kill him.

When Keith finishes changing, he goes to meet the others.

When everyone arrives, Allura begins to fill them in.

"It appears they went to Olkarion. What purpose they have there I do not know. Be alert paladins, Lotor has a way of making things dangerous and difficult." Allura says.

"What do we do if Lance attacks us again?" Hunk asks.

"Hopefully he won't but we just have to find a way to bring him back without harming him or him harming us. Then we can figure out what's controlling him." Shiro replies.

"We'll be there shortly paladins, you should head to your lions." Allura says.

The team goes to their respective lions and prepare to go.

"We're here paladins. Be safe." Allura says over the com.

"Be on the lookout for galra soldiers. Last thing we need is an all out fight." Shiro says.

They land their lions and head towards the village.

They are met halfway by Ryner and a few other Olkari.

"Paladins, tell me are you with the galra too as your blue paladin is." Ryner says, confronting them.

The Paladins look at each other.

"No we are not. Have you seen the blue paladin?" Shiro responds.

"He was here taking our technology for the galra. He even fought our guards. Has he betrayed you?" Ryner asks.

"He's doing undercover work. He's pretending to be on their side to gather information. Trust me, he's still a paladin of Voltron." Keith responds, thinking quickly on his feet.

"Infiltrating the galra? That's quite dangerous. He is quite convincing though." She says.

"Yes. The best way to take your enemy down is from the inside. We have confidence in him." Shiro says.

"Very well then. What brings you here then?" Ryner asks.

"We have to do our part so they don't suspect him as a spy. We're here to try and stop them. Do you know which way the blue paladin went?" Pidge replies.

"Through the forested region. He cannot be too far." Ryner says.

"Thank you. We'll be back to help with any damage that was caused." Shiro says.

"Let's go team." Shiro signals.

They run towards the forest, keeping an eye out for Lance.

"How far do you think he got?" Hunk asks.

"He couldn't be back at Lotor's ship already so he's somewhere in this forest. We're bound to run into him." Pidge replies.

They keep running, looking out for any signs of Lance.

"What do you know, a game of hide and seek. Having fun yet?"

The Paladins stop and look around.

"Come out Lance. No need to hide unless you're scared." Keith says.

"Trying to challenge me mullet? I thought you would've learn your lesson from last time when I almost killed you." Lance responds from his hiding place.

"You got lucky. Come out and let's really see." Keith says, still looking around.

The others stay quiet, knowing what Keith is doing.

"Keith I'm stronger than you. You may have the experience but if I get my hands on you it's over. Game lost." Lance taunts.

"I see Lotor has been filling your head up. Even if you were stronger than me you wouldn't be able to land a hit." Keith responds.

Lance jumps down from a tree and looks at Keith with a smirk.

"As much as I would love to try that theory, Lotor gave me orders to not fight any of you if I run into you. Can't disobey an order now." Lance says.

Keith eyes travel to Lance's neck. He see fresh bruises over older bruises that are beginning to heal.

"You can't afford to." Keith says.

Lance notices their glances at his bruises. He glares and turns away.

"How many times has he hurt you?" Shiro asks, finally speaking.

"That's none of your business. When I do not please the prince I take the consequences like any other soldier would." Lance says.

"Lance buddy come back with us. We can save you from this." Hunk says.

Lance balls his hands up into fists.

"Don't attack them, Lotor wouldn't like it. Don't attack. Just bring back what he wanted and everything will be fine." Lance mumbles to himself.

Pidge steps closer towards him.

"Lance please." She says.

"You all get to walk away this time but next time you won't be so lucky." Lance says.

He turns his head and gives them the coldest look. His eyes meet with Pidge's and she feels frozen. She never seen Lance give such a cold, mean look, not even towards Keith and he's always going on about how he can't stand Keith.

Lance turns around again and runs away.

They chase after him but eventually they lose sight of him.

"Please tell me we didn't lose him again." Hunk says.

"How did we lose track of him? He was right in front of us." Keith says.

"However it happened all we know is we have to get him back soon. We can't let him stay with Lotor any longer." Shiro responds.

Pidge just looks off into the direction Lance went. His eyes were so cold. What is Lotor doing to him over there?

"Lance."


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm not stopping him, you go do it."

"No way."

Hunk and Pidge stand on the opposite side of the training room, watching Keith once more continually fighting the sparring robot. He's been going at it for a few hours now.

The two are wondering who's going to stop him this time. Last time they had Shiro do it but Shiro is with Allura right now.

Ever since they lost Lance on Olkarion, again, three weeks ago, Keith has been more irritable than ever. He spends his days fighting and training. He rarely leaves the training room and the only time he does is when someone makes him leave, which is no easy task for anyone here.

"How about we both do it?" Pidge suggests.

"Okay that's fair." Hunk replies.

They walk together on the outskirts, so they don't accidentally get involved in the fight. When they get close enough to Keith, they look at each other hesitantly.

"Hey Keith." Hunk says first.

Keith ignores his name being called and continues fighting.

"Uhh Keith." Pidge says this time.

Again they get no response from him and he keeps fighting.

"Oh for the love of- End training simulation!" Pidge shouts.

The sparring bot powers down and Keith turns to the two, mad.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Keith asks.

"It's time for lunch. Someone had to get you to stop." Pidge responds.

"I'm not hungry." Keith says.

"But you still need to eat." Hunk replies.

"I'll eat when I'm finish." Keith mumbles.

"Yeah we heard that before. You almost went the entire day without eating." Pidge says.

Keith turns away and lifts up his sword again.

Pidge sighs.

"Grab him." She says.

Hunk go over and lifts Keith up and puts him over his shoulder. Pidge grabs his sword out of his hand and holds it.

"Let me go Hunk!" Keith says.

"Nope you're going to go eat." Hunk responds, leaving the training room with Pidge.

"I don't need to eat, I need to train." Keith says, frustrated.

Pidge rolls her eyes and looks at Keith.

"He would call you an idiot if he heard you say that. You know he would make you eat too." Pidge says.

Though she doesn't say his name, they all know who she's talking about. After the last time, the paladins don't even mention Lance's name in front of Keith. He gets really upset and storms out of a room whenever he hears Lance's name. They all know he's worried for Lance and that's why he's training so hard. But they're all worried and they all want to get Lance back, so he can't just go around throwing fits.

Keith stops struggling in Hunk's arms. He just stares at Pidge, knowing she's right. Lance would insult him for training so much and then personally bring food to him. Of course Lance, being Lance, would try to make it a big deal and act like he didn't care so he can keep the rival thing going. But they all know Lance actually cares. He cares for all of his teammates.

When they get to the dining room Hunk sets Keith down in a chair.

"Now don't move, I'll be back." Hunk says.

Hunk leaves to go to the kitchen and Pidge sits next to Keith.

"You know Keith, I understand what's it like to want to get someone back that you don't want to stop to do what seems like unimportant things. I spent so many days of not eating and nights not sleeping to find my dad and brother. But none of that really helped me. A bit after he healed, he came to talk to and he told me that we were going to find my family no matter what happens but I have to take care of myself so when I see them again I can show them how well I'm doing. Don't worry Keith, we're going to get him back but you have to take care of yourself, just like he said. We all miss him." Pidge says.

Keith glares at his hands. He knows they're going to get him back but he's just mad that he's there in the first place. To be left in the hands of the galra prince is a nightmare no one should suffer through.

"I know we'll get him back." Keith responds.

Hunk comes back with a place with a plate of the space goo that they have grown accustomed to.

"Here you go, eat up." Hunk says putting the plate in front of Keith.

Keith stares at the plate and then looks up to Pidge and Hunk.

"Go ahead eat." Pidge says.

Keith picks up his spoon and puts a spoonful in his mouth. Slowly but surely he eats his food while Pidge and Hunk watch him. They high five each other when he finishes his food.

"We did it." Hunk says.

"And without Shiro's help." Pidge adds.

"Yeah so can I go back to training now?" Keith asks crossing his arms.

"No you're going to go suit up."

The three turn to see that Shiro entered the room all suited up.

"What's going on?" Pidge asks.

"We got a message from Lance himself." Shiro says.

Keith shoots out of his seat.

"What did he say?" Keith asks.

"Go suit up all of you and meet us so we can show you the message to see for yourself." Shiro responds.

They rush to change. Lance sent a message himself, that's serious.

They suit up and go to meet the others. When they get there, they see the serious look on Allura's face.

"What's happening?" Keith asks.

Allura just turns around and plays the message.

" _Hello Allura, bet you didn't expect this but here I am, sending you a message. Make sure you show everyone this."_ Lance starts.

Lance looks worse than before. Though he has a smirk on his face, he's clearly in pain. Blood drips from the side of his mouth. He has a blackish-purple bruise on one cheekand a deep scratch on his other cheek, also bleeding. His hair is a complete mess.

Pidge, Hunk, and Keith stare in shock. What did Lotor do to him?

" _The prince decided it was time to end this useless chase so I'm here to tell you what's going to happen. Along with this message is our coordinates. Make sure you show up or else I'm sure some other planet can face the punishments and torture. The planet you'll be going to is deserted so you don't have to worry about anyone else getting involved. No one will be able to save you. I told you you won't be so lucky to escape this time. Have fun preparing for your deaths. Until then, adios amigos."_ Lance says.

The message ends and a silence fills the air.

End this? Deaths?

Damn Lotor is going to try to kill them this time. And he'll most likely make Lance fight them to the death.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Keith says.

They all turn to Keith.

"It's dangerous Keith. I'm positive Lotor has a plan that we do not know of. If we rush into this, it may be fatal." Allura responds.

"Yeah but are we going to risk others' lives? We all know Lotor has no problem using Lance to go make others' lives miserable. What, are we going to keep telling people Lance is doing undercover work as he helps wreak havoc on their worlds? Besides if we don't go this may be the last time we get to save Lance. You heard him, they're ending this chase. We have to go. I'm going." Keith says.

No one replies but just stares. They know Keith is right but they may be risking a lot, their lives even.

"Keith's right. I'm going too. I'm going to save Lance." Pidge says and moves to stand next to Keith.

"Me too, I'm not leaving my buddy any longer with that monster." Hunk says.

They turn to Shiro, waiting for his response.

"You know this may very well be a trap?" Shiro asks.

"You know better than anyone else here that being a captive to the galra is not something anyone should go through. You know we can't leave him there." Keith responds.

Shiro sighs.

"I knew you guys would make the right choice. Let's go save our teammate." He says.

"Be safe." Allura says.

"Bring him back to us." Coran adds.

"We will, we're not leaving without him this time." Shiro says.

"I checked the coordinates they gave us with Pidge's device and they are correct, so we are heading to them. We will be there in a few ticks thanks to the wormhole, prepare yourselves and be ready for anything when we get there." Allura says.

"We're coming for you buddy." Hunk says.

It takes only a short while until they land.

"We don't need our lions I think but let's take one just in case. We can take the black lion and if anything major happens we can go back to get the other lions." Shiro says.

They all head to the black lion hangar.

"You guys ready for this?" Shiro asks.

A collection of yeahs and of course is said in response. They all go into the black lion and head out.

"He wasn't lying when he said deserted. This planet has no signs of life." Pidge says.

"At least we know no bystander can get hurt or affected in anyway here." Shiro replies.

"Shiro below, it's Lance and Lotor!" Keith says, pointing to the two figures in front of them.

Shiro lands his lion and the rush out, bayards ready.

"Ah paladins, took you long enough to get here." Lotor says.

Lance stands next to him in his paladin armor, a taunt to them.

Keith glares at Lotor.

"I see you noticed that my Lance is dressed in his armor. I thought it would be fitting for your last moments alive to see him the way you abandoned him. To die by the hands of someone who was once your teammate. How gruesomely perfect for the demise of the legendary paladins of Voltron." Lotor says.

"He isn't yours!" Keith replies.

Lotor smiles and turns to Lance.

"Hey Keith remember when you said I wouldn't be able to land a hit on you?" Lance asks.

Before Keith can respond, Lance runs up and punches him in the face, hard. Keith, not prepared for the hit, stumbles back.

"Guess what, I landed a hit." Lance says with a smile.

Keith looks back to Lance.

"Lucky hit." He mumbles.

"Well let me show you how luck has nothing to do with it." Lance says charging at him.

Lance swings a few more hits at Keith's face as Keith avoids him. Keith doesn't see though when Lance aims a blow lower. Lance kicks Keith in his stomach as hard as he can. Keith falls to the ground, actually feeling the kick through his armor. He curses under his breath.

"What do you know, I'm _**finally**_ better than good 'ol Keith." Lance taunts.

Lance raises his foot to stomp on Keith's head. Before Lance can get to Keith, Pidge's grappling cable wraps around his ankle. She pulls and he falls.

"You know you have an annoying tendency to make me fall before I can attack him." Lance says, turning to Pidge with a glare.

Keith gets back up and gets some distance between him and Lance. Lance removes himself from Pidge's cable and stands up. He takes out his bayard and aims his rifle at Pidge.

"I should deal with you first." Lance says.

He fires but Shiro moves Pidge out of the way.

"Keep him at a distance. Come on Keith." Shiro commands.

Hunk uses his energy cannon and shoots at the ground by Lance's feet. Lance tries to get around the shots but Pidge also helps keep him further back.

Shiro and Keith charge at Lotor. Lotor shows no concern on his face. Instead he simply keeps his smile on.

"Initiate Paladin override: Beast mode." Lotor says. _(A/N: I totally saw amazing artwork of this concept of an override on Tumblr and thought it was so cool so I thought to add it. Not my idea, I'd give credit if I could find the original creator again)_

Lance freezes as his necklace glows purple. Hunk and Pidge stop when they see Lance not moving anymore. Shiro and Keith stop and turn to Lance.

Lance shakes. His eyes turn purple, his breathing becomes rough, and his hands seem to grow claws. Lance growls and turns to Shiro and Keith.

Before either of them can realize it, Lance is in front of them, landing a very hard punch in Shiro's jaw. Shiro goes back a few feet from the impact.

Lance turns to Keith, grabs him by his arm, lifts him up, and throws him towards Pidge and Hunk. He lands on the ground hard, so hard the ground cracked.

"Do you like what I did? In this mode his strength and speed is increased. The best part is he's just like any other monster we create, doesn't stop until his target is destroyed." Lotor says.

He points to them and Lance moves to attack.

"Scatter!" Keith says, trying to get up.

Pidge and Hunk go in separate directions. Pidge heads towards Shiro and Hunk just tries to get distance from Lance.

As Keith tries to stand up, Lance puts him back on the ground swinging his leg down on Keith's back. Keith's jaw hit the ground with force. Keith tastes blood in his mouth.

"Dammit." Keith groans out.

Lance kicks him in the side and Keith slides back, spitting out blood. Lance then stomps on Keith's leg.

Before Lance can attack again Hunk tackles Lance to the ground.

"Snap out of it bud. Don't let him control you." Hunk says, struggling to keep him down.

Lance eventually pushes Hunk off of him. He stands up again and lifts Hunk up by his shoulder. He knees Hunk in his stomach. He lets him drop to the ground and turns to Pidge and Shiro.

Shiro steps in front of Pidge as Lance runs towards them. Lance sweep kicks Shiro's feet and as he falls, elbows him in his chest to the ground.

Lance looks at Pidge. He grabs her by her hair and lifts her up. She struggles to get out of his hold and kicks him as hard as she can.

He drops her and growls. She shocks him with her katar and crawls away as the electricity travels through his body. She gets up and runs to put some distance between them. She runs to Keith and helps him up. He leans on her for support.

"How are you holding up? You seem to be getting the worse beating out of all of us." Pidge says.

"Forget that, we need to find a way to get him out of this mode or else we'll be in some serious trouble." Keith responds.

"Uhh guys he's coming." Hunk says, standing up.

They turn to see Lance coming towards them.

"Pidge let me go and run back to the black lion." Keith says.

"He's going to kill you. You're the one who needs to get to the lion." Pidge argues.

Lance doesn't reach them though because Shiro pulls him back and throws him the opposite way. He lands on the ground, next to Lotor.

"I don't think we're going to get out of this alive if we don't actually defend ourselves." Shiro says.

He looks as tired and in pain as the rest of them.

They all group together. Pidge helps Keith lean on Shiro instead.

"Allura was right when she said Lotor had a plan." Hunk says, looking to Lotor and his smiling face. He thinks he won.

Lance stands up and looks at them as a provoked animal would. Lotor wasn't lying when he said Lance wouldn't stop until they were down for good.

"He's going to be here again soon. What do we do?" Pidge says.

A white blur goes past them. In front of Lance sits Sirius. Lance stares at Sirius.

"How did Sirius get here?" Hunk asks.

"Probably snuck on the lion with us." Shiro responds.

Sirius climbs up to Lance's shoulder and yanks the necklace off of his neck. They jump off his shoulder and runs away.

"Don't just stand there, get the creature and get the necklace back." Lotor orders.

Lance begins to chase after Sirius, but they're a smarter creature than they look. They run around, avoiding Lance's reach, with the necklace in their mouth.

"The necklace? The necklace must have something to do with how he's controlling Lance." Shiro says.

"But shouldn't Lance be back to normal then since the necklace is off?" Hunk asks.

"I don't know but that necklace must be important if Lotor wants him to get it back." Shiro responds.

Pidge runs and uses her grappling cable to yank Lance's leg again. Hunk joins and uses his energy cannon to block Lance's way. Sirius runs to Keith and Shiro.

Lance grabs the cable around his leg and pulls it, sending Pidge forward to him. When she gets closer to him, he claws at her shoulder, leaving deep scratch marks. Pidge screams and he grabs and throws her into Hunk. He catches her but the force of the throw and the catch knocks the wind out of him. She grabs her shoulder in pain.

"This needs to stop." Keith says.

Lance turns back to Sirius and continues to chase after them. Keith pushes himself off of Shiro and stands shakily. His leg still hurts like hell.

Sirius runs and drops the necklace in front of Keith. He takes his sword, raises it above his head and swings it down onto the necklace, right as Lance gets in front of him to swing. It shatters to pieces.

"NO!" Lotor shouts.

Lance stops and the purple in his eyes turn back to their normal color. His once feral look becomes one of fear as he looks straight into Keith's eyes. He lowers his fists and turns around slowly. His eyes land on Pidge in Hunk's arms, holding her injured shoulder. His breathing becomes more jagged as his eyes finally land on Lotor. He falls to his bottom, scrambling away from Lotor.

"What have I done?" He whispers.

Lotor turns without a word and leaves. No one goes after him. No one can.

"Come on let's get back to the castle." Shiro says.

Shiro offers Lance his hand but Lance just backs away from it. Lance stands up by himself and gets a good look at his teammates. He saw everything he did to them. He remembers from the first time he attacked them on the Balmera. He remembers everything he's said to them. He knows that he almost killed them just now.

He looks at Keith, who is clutching his side and barely able to stand. He really put a beating on Keith. Those injuries and bruises were all caused by him.

Shiro sighs and turns to help Keith walk back to the lion. Hunk carries Pidge back and Lance follows, looking all around him making sure Lotor doesn't pop up and snatch him back.

He still feels the torture he went through at the hands of Lotor. Before, under Lotor's control, the pain of the beatings weren't so noticeable. He couldn't think about the pain because Lotor was commanding him to do things. Now that he's free, all his bruises and cuts are in screaming pain. He won't mention that though.

The walk back was silent and so was the journey back to the castle.

"Oh my word, paladins you're hurt." Allura says when they exit the black lion.

"We need to get all of you healed." Coran says.

"I'm fine." Lance says softly, not able to look anyone in the eyes.

Keith pushes himself off Shiro once more and limps over to Lance.

"You're the main one who needs to be healed. You were gone for months." Keith says.

Lance looks down at Keith's bad leg.

' _At least I can walk.'_ Lance thinks.

He doesn't argue though and follows everyone to the medic room. He watches as Pidge gets put in a pod first then Keith. Those two probably have the worse injuries. Keith's very bones are bruised with the amount of force Lance used in those hits. The scratches on Pidge's shoulder are extremely painful. Lance knows what the pain feels like all too well. Lotor clawed and scratched at him to no end.

He refuses to go next so Hunk goes in a pod next. Though he wasn't attacked as much, the few hits he did get were with a lot of force. He was down on the ground for a good two minutes after one hit before he could stand up again.

Shiro looks to Lance.

"You're next." Lance mumbles.

Lance knows that Shiro is in pain. He would feel terrible if he went before him even though he caused his pain. He would feel terrible if he went before anyone.

"Lance you really should go. Your's will take the longest because of how many injuries you have acquired. None of them were healed properly." Allura says.

Lance stands his ground though and waits for Shiro to go first. Shiro relents and go in a pod next.

Lance stares at his teammates healing. They wouldn't need to heal if he didn't hurt them.

"Lance you're next." Coran says.

Lance hesitantly goes in the pod. He feels like he doesn't deserve to be healed. Not after the pain and trouble he just caused everyone.

 _I didn't want to come home this way._


	11. Chapter 11

"How much longer Allura?"

The paladins wait in front of Lance's pod. He's been in there for two days now.

"Only a bit longer. He had a lot of injuries, and all of them did not heal properly. Not only that but the necklace you spoke of did some serious damage to him." Allura says.

"What was that necklace anyways?" Pidge asks, turning to Allura.

The others also turn to hear the answer. That necklace is what was controlling Lance and even turned him into some sort of beast.

"It was controlling Lance but it also appears to have had some quintessence in it. I found traces of it in Lance's body so it's logical to assume that that's where it came from. My theory is that the quintessence in it is what caused Lance to turn into that beastly form. From the amount of quintessence in his system, I think that was not the first time Lance was forced to be in that mode." Allura answers.

"Can humans even take in quintessence?" Shiro asks.

"Well there's no research saying they can or cannot but pure quintessence is something most creatures cannot handle. That is what turns them into the beasts you come across. Even if they do not become a beast they become power hungry wanting for more, like how Zarkon became. I'm quite surprised that Lance was able to take in pure quintessence a number of times but was still able to revert back to normal. I'm very sure that the first time he went through such a change was very painful. To have quintessence forced into your body is no safe thing." Allura says.

It seems Lance went through more than what they thought. Who knows how many times he was forced to go in that mode until it went smoothly.

"So what do we do when he's finished?" Keith asks.

"If I know anything about being a captive for the galra, I do know that the last thing you want is to be bombarded with questions about what happened. I'm sure Lance will open up to us eventually but for now we let him be." Shiro replies.

Keith thinks back to when Lance was released from the necklace's control. The look of pure fear in Lance's eyes was troubling. The way Lance scrambled away from just the sight of Lotor showed that he went through hell. Lance was shaking from fear as he finally came to his senses. He has never seen Lance so terrified.

"Do you think he knows what happened while he was under control?" Hunk asks.

"He knows, and it's probably eating him alive." Keith replies.

Pidge rubs her shoulder as she remembers the pain of his claws digging in with only one scratch. If Lance remembers doing that, then she knows it's killing him on the inside.

The sound of groaning alerts them all and they turn back around. Lance stumbles out holding his head.

"LANCE!" They all shout.

As they step closer to him, Lance flinches and steps back as a reaction.

"You okay buddy?" Hunk asks.

Lance rubs his arm. He's so used to flinching and moving away since Lotor would always hurt him. Not only that, he can't bear to be so close to them. Not after what he did.

"Y-yeah I'm fine Hunk." Lance responds.

"You must be hungry, how about we go get you something to eat?" Allura offers.

"Uh sure but may I go take a shower first?" Lance says.

"Of course. We'll meet you in the dining room so we can all eat together." Coran responds.

"I'll walk with you to your room." Pidge says.

Lance just nods and leaves with Pidge.

"So, who's the little fella on your shoulder?" Lance asks.

"Oh their name is Sirius. Their species is genderless until it comes time for mating and that's when they choose who will be the female to reproduce. I found them on the planet Shiro was on. They helped us along with the others of their kind." Pidge replies.

"They're pretty cute. And smart. It's amazing that Sirius knew to take off the necklace and run." Lance says.

So he does remember what happened. Poor Lance.

"They're a great pet." Pidge says.

When they finally get to Lance's room, Lance freezes at the door.

"It's been awhile since I've been in here." Lance says.

"Well now you're home. Do you want me to wait for you?" Pidge replies.

"No it's fine. Go join the others. I'll be there soon." Lance says, the gathers enough courage to enter in.

It's exactly the way he left it. He walks towards his bed and puts a hand on the cold sheets. He hasn't been in a bed for months. Even after when Lotor had him under his control, he forced Lance to sleep in that cold, dark cell room he was in the entire time. He slept on the floor and each night was worse than the last.

Lance takes off his shirt and looks down at his torso. He has faded scratch marks on him. The bruises are gone but the scars from the cuts didn't fully go away. He didn't expect it to really. Lotor only had Lance healed that one time and that was with the infection in his leg. After that, whatever Lotor did to him healed whatever way it could. It was almost as painful as the torture itself.

Lance heads to his shower and turns the hot water on. He's so tired of the cold, he doesn't care if he gets burned. He strips off the rest of him clothes and step in under the warm water. He just stands under the water thinking. He doesn't really want to go eat, he's not hungry. Lotor fed him on certain days so he wouldn't die. It was more forcing the needed nutrients into his body with a needle than feeding, but that's what Lotor called it.

Lance stares at the water draining. This is his element. He's always felt safe in the water. He always strived in the water. But now all he can see is his blood draining down with the water. A figment of his imagination but still seems very real nonetheless.

He was always bleeding, always coughing, and always gasping for air when he was with Lotor. Now that he can breathe and the red liquid he has grown familiar with on his skin is no longer there, he doesn't know what to do. He's safe again, but what does he do now? Does he pretend like nothing happened, like he didn't attack his friends, like he wasn't tortured for months? Does he forget that he said that he's finally better than Keith after he got Keith to the ground? Does he ignore the fact that he scratched Pidge the very same way Lotor used to do to him? Does he just pretend it all didn't happen?

Lotor's words of him being unwanted rings in his head. Is he still unwanted? Are they just being nice now because they just got him back? Will they forget him again after a bit? When will they yell at him for hurting them? He wasn't better, he was worse. He was the paladin who fell under Lotor's control and couldn't do anything about it.

Lance turns off the water and steps out to dry himself.

Maybe he can just try to make things seem as normal as possible. He's still Lance. All he has to do is smile and joke around and they'll think he's fine. Why bother them?

But what if they try to touch him? He's developed an instant reaction to flinch when anyone gets near to touch him. He can't help himself.

He'll just have to try.

He puts on his regular clothes and stares in the mirror. He can do this. He's safe now, nothing to worry about.

He leaves his room and head to the dining room.

His hands keep fidgeting as he walks. He's uncomfortable. He wants to just lock himself in his room until he has the courage to be around them again, but he knows he can't. He'll be in his room for a long time if he did.

He hesitates as he reaches the dining room. He can do this. He spent months on Lotor's ship as a prisoner. Eating lunch with his teammates is nothing compared to that.

He finally enters and he sees all eyes on him.

"Did I take too long?" Lance asks, scratching his head.

'No you're fine. Come join us." Shiro responds.

Lance knows he should sit in his regular seat next to Keith, but that feels to close. He doesn't want to be next to anyone.

He walks over and takes a seat next to Keith anyways to avoid any questions.

"So what did I miss?" Lance asks, forcing a small smile.

"Nothing, just Allura scolding Keith again for breaking more sparring bots." Hunk replies.

Keith crosses his arms.

"They were fixed though." He mumbles.

"Yeah by Hunk and I. You should really stop breaking them. I have other things to do." Pidge says.

Lance just gives another forced smile. He looks down at the plate of food in front of him. His stomach turns at the sight of it. He's not hungry at all.

"Aren't you going to eat Lance?" Allura asks.

"Oh yeah." He replies.

He picks up his spoon but drops it because his hand was shaking. He bends down to pick it up the same time Keith does. Their hands touch as they both grab the spoon Lance freaks out. He lets go of the spoon and jumps up in his seat.

"Are you okay Lance?" Keith asks, holding out to him his spoon.

Lance sees everyone looking at him so he takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.

"Yeah yeah I'm fine. Thanks for picking up my spoon for me." Lance replies.

Lance takes his spoon from him and reluctantly takes a spoonful and eats it. He just wants to spit it out and never eat again, but he knows they won't let him do that. He swallows the food and tries not to gag. He just needs to eat enough where it doesn't look bad.

He knows the next few days everyone is going to be watching him closely. He can't mess up. He has to be better more so now than ever.

 _I can't be any more of a burden._

These next few days are going to be tough.


	12. Chapter 12

" _Again. Try it again."_

 _Lance tried to stand up again. It hurts everywhere._

" _My Prince can we break for a moment? I don't know how much more of this my body can take." Lance said._

 _They've been at it for days. This new beast mode is a real pain to him. It hurts like hell when transitioning and his mind feels like it's arguing with itself._

" _I'll tell you when we can stop. Now we'll continue doing this until it's perfect. Initiate Paladin override: Beast mode." Lotor growled._

 _Lance body shook once more as he began to go into that terrible mode again. His nails sharpened and his mind once again goes into a purple haze._

 _All he can feel is a feral feeling. He wants to tear something apart. He wants to destroy something._

" _Lance destroy the guard." Lotor ordered, pointing to the robotic guard._

 _Lance charged at the guard as it fired at him. He dodged each blast._

 _Lance stabbed his sharpened claws through the guard's chest. The guard falls once Lance takes his hand out._

 _That was the easy part. It always was._

" _Bring in the soldier." Lotor commanded._

 _A living galra soldier was brought in. He wasn't about to be killed without a fight._

 _In Lance's mind he knew what's the next order was and he hated it._

" _Kill him."_

 _Just two words but they were terrible._

 _Lance ran toward the soldier, ready for anything._

 _The fight was on but it was clear Lance had the advantage. The soldier barely stood a chance._

" _Stop playing with him and kill him. Kill him now!" Lotor ordered._

 _Lance raised his hand, ready to give the final blow. Lotor's order rung in his head. It was all he heard._

" _KILL HIM!"_

Lance awakens from his dream panting.

He hugs his knees tightly as his body trembles.

He hates that stupid beast mode. When it first happened, Lance was able to resist a bit. He never killed them. He always just ended up stopping and let them walk away.

But after doing it so many times, Lotor decided to raise the level of how much quintessence to use. The more that went in him, the more beast like he became. Soon he was only able to hesitate before rendering his opponent unconscious. He beat them to a pulp. He left them to wallow in pain and suffer.

Lotor was not satisfied with that. He wanted Lance to kill.

When Lance wasn't in beast mode, he still did terrible things. He fought constantly and even punished prisoners. He was Lotor's number one experiment and weapon.

With him in beast mode, he couldn't be beaten. He was a mindless beast that Lotor could control.

It was terrible.

Lance wishes those memories would go away. His time in Lotor's hands were the worst months of his life.

What makes it even worse is what he did to his team. He almost killed them. Lotor forced him into that mode so much that he knows he wouldn't have hesitated that time. He would've killed them and would had to watch it as he did.

Lance snaps out of his thoughts when he hears scratching at his door.

What could be making that noise at this time of night? Everyone is asleep.

Lance gets out of his bed and opens the door. Sirius scurries into his room.

"Oh it's you. You're Pidge's little pet, Sirius." Lance says.

Sirius climbs up to Lance's shoulder. Lance sits back down on his bed.

"Is Pidge asleep?" He asks.

Sirius licks his cheek in response. They jump down to his lap and look up to him.

Lance pets their head.

"I really have to thank you. I would've done a terrible thing if you didn't get that necklace off of me." He says.

They rub against Lance's hand.

"If only I was able to free myself. Why was I so weak? Why couldn't I do anything? I wouldn't have hurt them if I was able to free myself. I hurt them so much."

Lance's eyes begin to water. Sirius looks up and tilts their head at him.

"The worse part is I enjoyed it." Lance whispers in horror.

Lance trembles as he recalls how he hurt his team.

"For once I was their focus. They saw how useful I could be. I showed how strong I was. I beat Keith. I was better than Keith for once. I enjoyed the feeling of being needed, of someone making me feel important. Lotor made me feel like I was the best soldier he had. He made me feel like he needed me. I know he did it on purpose so it would be easier to control me but I enjoyed the feeling while I was there. It took my mind off the pain sometimes. I'm the beast Lotor made me."

Lance cries silently as he stares at his hands. He hurt the people he cared about. He made them spend their time searching for him and all he did was hurt them. How could he be here with them after everything he did?

Sirius licks Lance's hand in attempt to comfort him.

"Thanks Sirius, at least I can talk to you." Lance says through his tears.

So far as he's been back at the castle, all he's felt was guilt and pain. Every night he has nightmares of his time on Lotor's ship. He never tells anyone because he doesn't want to bother them anymore than he already has. He just doesn't want to be more of a burden to them.

"I can't even handle being touched without freaking out. I haven't even been to see Blue yet. I feel so unworthy to even see her." Lance sobs.

"What use am I anymore?"


	13. Chapter 13

"You called Allura?"

Shiro, Pidge, Keith and Hunk look at Allura as she has a troubled look on her face.

"Well yes, you see we have a strange reading from a galra base near by. From the signature it appears to be something of high levels of quintessence, which is no good thing to be in galra hands." Allura says.

"Okay then so you want us to go figure out what's going on and most likely retrieve it." Shiro responds.

Allura fumbles with her hands.

"That would be expected yes but there's one problem." Allura says.

"What is it?" Keith asks.

"Lotor's ship is there so it is logical to assume that Lotor is there himself. I don't know if going against Lotor right now would be the wisest course." She explains.

A knowing and worrying silence fills the room.

"Should we tell him?" Hunk asks.

Pidge looks at Shiro with worry. She knows it's not a fight against Lotor that is the main issue. It's the question of if Lance could face Lotor again after he just escaped him. Lance barely comes out of his room, is he really ready for a fight?

"If this mission is really important then we can find a way to do it without bringing him there. He's been through enough." Keith says.

"I agree that he's been through a lot, but can this really be done without the blue lion?" Allura asks.

"Can what be done without blue?"

Lance walks over to the group. He left his room to go try and spend a bit of time with the others so they wouldn't worry too much. But as he was passing by, he heard them talking about a mission.

"Lance, I didn't see you enter. How are you feeling?" Allura says.

"I'm fine. What are you guys talking about? What do you need Blue for?" Lance replies.

They all looked at each other. The unspoken question is in the air, 'who is going to tell him?'.

Coran decides to step up and be the one.

"Well you see there's a galra base nearby that is holding something that has a lot of quintessence." Coran explains.

"Okay so let's go get it. We don't want it in their hands right." Lance replies.

"Of course but the thing is, Lotor's ship is there which means Lotor himself may be there as well." Coran says cautiously.

Lance freezes at just the name.

Lotor is there. He has to face Lotor again. He has to face the person who has been haunting his dreams for weeks now again.

"Lance you don't have to go. I'm sure we can get whatever this is done without you having to come along. We don't want to put you in that situation. We all know how difficult this would be for you." Shiro says.

Lance forces out a chuckle but it sounds more like a wheeze.

"What are you talking about Shiro, I'll be fine. If you're going against Lotor's soldiers then trust me when I say you'll need all the lions. Let's go kick some galra butt, no offense Keith." Lance says, trying to sound confident.

He's scared out of his mind but he doesn't want to tell them that.

"Lance you don't have to force yourself." Keith says, ignoring his joke.

"Don't worry about it Keith, I'm fine. Let's just do this." Lance replies.

Lance walks away to go suit up and to go calm his nerves, leaving the others to think.

"Do you think he can really do this?" Pidge asks.

"Honestly I'm afraid he may not be able to handle it all. It's a scary thing to be back at the place where you were tortured. You never want to see that place again. Going back is like reliving everything." Shiro replies.

"Well we'll be with him the entire time. We won't let anything happen to him and we definitely won't let Lotor get him again. We'll take Lotor down once and for all." Keith says.

"Yeah let's get this guys for Lance. We'll show him not to mess with us paladins." Hunk adds.

"Suit up and get ready. We have our work set out for us." Shiro says.

They go and leave to change. They really have to be ready for this.

On the way to his room, Keith stops at Lance's door and heistates. He decides to knock anyways.

Lance opens the door, already ready.

"Need something Keith?" He asks.

"No I just wanted to tell you something." Keith replies.

Lance leans on the doorway.

"Go ahead amigo." Lance says.

"I just wanted to let you know that we're going to get him and we're going to make sure he pays for everything he's done. We won't let him harm you again." Keith says.

Lance, caught off guard, stands up straight again. He's never seen Keith seem so serious for him. Is this just him trying to make up for what happened or is he trying to comfort him?

Honestly he knows that everyone thinks that he's going to break on this mission. He knows that they know he's freaking out. But he doesn't want to be a burden again.

He has to be useful this time.

"Thanks buddy, I'm sure you guys will give him hell." Lance replies, forcing a smile.

Keith returns the smile, though he can clearly see it's forced. He knows Lance is not ready for this. He wishes Lance didn't have to go through this. He wish all of this could be avoided.

Keith leaves Lance to go get ready. Lance watches Keith walks away.

Keith actually seemed worried about him. Despite everything they went through, not to mention the beating he put on him, Keith seems worried about him.

He really needs to be useful this mission. He needs to show them that he can do this.

Lance leaves his room and, for the first time in a very long time, heads to Blue's hangar.

Lance stares up at the giant robotic lion. It's been so long since he's seen Blue.

"Hey Blue, it's been a long time huh. Sorry I haven't visit since I came back. I'm still adjusting to being back." Lance says.

He walks closer, though his heart is in his throat.

"Lance are you ready? It's time to go." Shiro says through the comm.

"Yeah I'm ready, just give me the word." Lance replies.

Lance gets in Blue and stares at the control.

Can he really do this?

He has to. They won't be able to do this without all five lions.

" _It's a shame that you still believe that they're coming to save you. You mean nothing to them. A title means nothing. They can always find another blue paladin."_

No he's not going to think about Lotor's words now. They need him right now. They need him as the blue paladin now.

The hangar door opens and he flies Blue out.

Surprisingly, Red stays close by him. Keith meant it by they won't let Lotor take him back. They're not even going to give him the chance to.

They land on the planet, a bit away from the base.

"According to what I'm reading, the energy of quintessence is actually inside of the base. Which means we can't go in with our lions." Pidge says through the comms.

Lance shudders. He was hoping that he wouldn't actually have to go in. He was hoping Lotor would already have gathered whatever it is and be trying to escape by now.

This screams "trap".

"Then let's make this quick. I want to take down Lotor here and now." Keith responds.

"We can't just rush in there though Keith. If we know anything by now, it's that Lotor always has a plan." Shiro says.

Lance knows that Lotor already knows they're here. He's almost certain that Lotor planned this.

"Well the first step is to just get in so let's do that." Hunk says.

They all leave their lions and head to the base.

Lance notices that there are no guards on the outside. He knows what that means.

"Guards are everywhere inside." Lance says quietly.

"What was that Lance?" Shiro asks.

Everyone turns to Lance.

"There's no guards outside. Lotor either needs all the help he can get or he wants to set a false sense of security. Either way there are guards swarming the inside." Lance explains.

No one questions him. If anyone would know about what Lotor does, it would be Lance.

"Alright then, everyone be ready for a fight." Shiro responds.

Everyone, even Lance, readies their bayard.

Keith puts his hand on the scanner and the doors open. They walk in, ready for any attacks.

"Which way is the energy coming from?" Keith asks.

Hunk and Pidge look down to their device to check.

"That way." Lance says, pointing to the left path.

Pidge checks again in shock.

"He's correct." Pidge says.

"How did you know that Lance?" Hunk asks.

"I know that energy feeling anywhere." Lance says plainly.

He walks forward, hoping no more questions will be asked. Luckily for him, they don't ask anymore. They just follow after him.

Everyone walks alert of their surroundings.

Suddenly, a bunch of guards are running down the hall, already firing at them.

"They were bound to come eventually." Keith mumbles.

The Paladins jump into action. Keith charges at them, taking down as many as he can with his sword. Pidge and Hunk stay close to each other, watching each other's backs and attacking from both sides. Shiro takes some guards down with his hand.

They're all fighting. All except for Lance.

He's hesitating.

He looks down to his rifle. Why is he hesitating? He never hesitates. He's a sharpshooter, he can take these robots out easily.

 _Destroy them. Destroy them now._

His mind tells him those dreaded words he constantly heard under Lotor's control. Lotor's not controlling him though. He can do what he want. He's not doing this for Lotor, he's doing this for his team.

 _Destroy. Destroy! DESTROY!_

Lance lets out a frustrated growl. He lowers his rifle and charges at the guards. He grabs one by the arm and flips it over his shoulder. He steps on its back as he aims his rifle and fires at the other guards.

 _Destroy them all!_

He wishes the damn voice would go away. It makes him feel unstable. It makes him feel angry, destructive, uncontrolled.

He continues to attack just to stop the voice in his head. He wants the voice to be quiet.

The other Paladins stop and watch as Lance goes on a destructive streak. He just keeps taking them out without stopping, which is a major shocker since they all expected Lance to lay low after that happened.

Lance continues until all the guards are taken down and the voice in his head stops telling him to destroy something.

He takes a deep breath as he looks around.

He could already hear what Lotor would say to him. He would praise him for the destruction he just caused. This would make Lotor proud.

He clenches his fist. How could he still be thinking about making Lotor proud? He doesn't need to please him anymore. He's not in his control anymore.

"Lance? Are you okay?" Pidge asks.

"Perfectly fine. Come on guys." He replies.

He continues forward, trying to ignore the scene around him. The others follow him.

No one dares to break the silence. It's just best to continue on and get this over with. Besides everyone knows what's going to happen when they get to where that energy is coming from. Lotor is going to be there and the fight is going to be on.

Hopefully Lance can take it all.

They finally make it to the doors where the energy reading is coming from behind.

Shiro looks to them all and they nod in reply.

This is it.

They enter into the room and standing there waiting for them is Lotor, as expected.

"I expected you Paladins to be here sooner." Lotor says.

Lance feels his heart trying to escape his chest with its hard fast beating. Just the sight of Lotor brings terror to him.

"I see you brought my dear Lance back to me." He says with a smile.

Lotor's eyes stare into Lance's and Lance feels frozen.

 _Don't look at me like that. Stop looking at me._

Lance stumbles back. He wants to be far away from Lotor. He was wrong, he can't do this. He can't handle this.

"He's not here for you!" Keith says, charging at Lotor, sword ready.

He tries to attack but Lotor blocks the hit with his own sword.

"You should have warned them about me dear blue." Lotor says.

Keith strikes again but only to have hit blocked once more.

Keith is determined though to bring down Lotor.

"Stop talking to him like that." Keith growls.

He attacks again and again but nothing hits Lotor.

"I'm not surprised that you're half galra. The way you fight is evidence in itself." Lotor says.

Keith is taken back by that. How did he know that?

Lance on the other hand is not surprised but filled with guilt. He remembers explaining to Lotor why Keith was able to enter in the rooms with his handprint. Lotor surprisingly rarely asked about specific information on the other paladins, but the few he did ask, he made sure he got an answer.

"Oh my, are you surprised that I know? My dear Lance told me of course. I was so curious as to why you can enter through galra doors so easily, so I had Lance tell me." Lotor says.

He kicks Keith square in the chest while his guard was down. Keith goes back from the force.

Lance knows that hurts. Lotor is none too gentle with his hits.

Pidge runs to attack next.

"Wait Pidge." Shiro tries but she keeps running.

"You'll pay for hurting Lance." She says.

Hunk backs her up by shooting at Lotor while she uses her cable to grab him.

Lotor just smirks.

He dodges the cable and moves to grab her. He grabs her by the shoulder and throws her to where Keith landed.

Hunk keeps his distance but still fires. Lotor dodges them and runs up to him. He uses his sword to knock out the weapon in Hunk's hands. He then sweep kicks Hunk's legs from under him.

Hunk goes down with a thud.

Lotor turns to Shiro and Lance. Shiro stands in front of Lance, ready to fight.

Lotor moves first to attack. Shiro tries to avoid him but Lotor grabs him by the arm, twists it behind his back, brings him lower, and high kicks him in the back. Shiro falls and Lotor kicks him away.

"Now that that's done, it's time I talk to you dear Lance." Lotor says.

He walks forward to Lance. Lance steps back, aiming his rifle shakily.

"Stay away from me." Lance says, voice shaking as much as his body.

Lotor doesn't stop walking closer to him. Lance tries to fire but the trigger suddenly seems too heavy. Why can't he fire?

"I was so mad when you left. How could you leave me, the only person who saw your potential, your strength?" Lotor says.

Lotor digs a nail into Lance's cheek. Lance winces. He knows what's coming next.

Lotor's fist is all he sees before he feels extreme pain in his cheek. He stumbles back and falls on his behind.

"Don't touch him!" Keith shouts, getting up after finally catching the air he lost from the kick Lotor gave him.

He runs to Lotor, sword raised to slash.

Lotor growls. He stops the sword from slicing him with his own sword and grabs Keith by the neck.

"I do not have the desire to deal with you four." Lotor says.

He slams Keith down on the ground and pushes him away.

Lotor presses a button and a see through purple wall separates Lotor and Lance from the other paladins.

"Don't even try breaking that, unless you want to be electrocuted, then by all means be my guest." Lotor says.

Lotor turns back to Lance. Lance tries to crawl away from him but Lotor stomps on his leg.

Lance lets out a scream.

 _Damn that's how Keith felt when I did that to him._

"You aren't going anywhere. I still have more to say to you. Now stay still for me, if you will." Lotor says.

Lance reluctantly nods and listens. He doesn't want to go through the beatings he used to go through.

"I do believe you are here because of the strong energy of quintessence present. It's gone by now, so you're too late. You know I am honestly surprised that you would go back to the very people who abandoned you. The very people who couldn't care less about you. You went back to the people who view you as useless." Lotor says.

"That's not true! We care about Lance." Pidge shouts from behind the wall.

Lotor ignores her interruption.

"You went back to a team where you mean nothing to them. Answer me this Lance, how often have they ever thanked you or praised you?" Lotor says.

Lance looks down. He knows the answer to that. It isn't often at all.

"Answer me!" Lotor demands, kicking Lance in the chest.

Lance coughs, feeling the familiar feeling of loss of air.

"Not often." Lance mumbles, hoping Lotor will take that answer.

Lotor accepts the answer thankfully.

"Now often have they criticized you, scolded you, blamed you, insulted you?" Lotor asks.

Lance flinches at the question. He makes eye contact with Keith, whose eyes just lost their fire at the question.

They all know the answer. Memories of every time they yelled at Lance for something or insulted him comes rushing back to their mind.

"Too often." Lance replies.

Lance could go on for hours about how much they scold and criticize him and Lotor knows that. Lotor is trying to play with his emotions again.

But it still hurts.

"You honestly believe they want you? You think they appreciate you? You're just the immature, reckless, fool of the team. You mean nothing to them." Lotor says.

Lance knows what he's doing but he can't stop the pain from the words from seeping into his heart. Deep inside he knows he believes everything Lotor is saying.

"Shut up! Stop lying to him!" Keith yells, pounding his fist on the wall. He gets shocked and he moves his hand back in pain.

"Lying? Oh no I'm not lying to him. I'm just stating the facts he already knows. Just like he knows that as long as he with you all, he will always be second to you. Always less than the red paladin. Always in your shadow." Lotor replies.

Lance's body begins to shake again as he looks down to his hands. He'll always be second to Keith? Ever since back on Earth, he's been less than Keith. In everything he did, he could never be better than Keith. He's going to always be in Keith's shadow? He'll never be seen for himself?

"Did it finally register in your mind dear Lance? Do you finally realize that you'll never be able to grow to your true potential while you're with them?" Lotor asks.

Never? Never?

"Your body still reacts to the quintessence in you. You still have the desire to show your strength and tear down those weaker than you." Lotor says.

Was that why he still heard that voice? Is that why he couldn't help but destroy those guards? Is he still that beast Lotor created?

"I can help you use that to your benefit. I can teach you how to use it to make you better. I'll make it where you won't have to be a beast to be better than the red paladin. I'll help make you stronger." Lotor says.

Lance raises his head up and looks to Lotor, confusion shining in his eyes.

"Stronger?" Lance whispers.

Lotor smiles. He got Lance right where he wants him.

"Join me Lance. We could rule the universe together. I'd always be by your side and always appreciate you. You have so much potential. I'll make that potential into something amazing. You'll be the best there is and no one could say otherwise. See it now, emperor Lotor and his prince Lance. We'd be unstoppable with our power." Lotor says, extending his hand out to Lance.

His voice is soft, calming and trusting yet powerful and strong.

Lance stares at his extended hand.

Join Lotor, as his prince? Lotor would make him strong. Lotor would need him.

"You'll just control me and hurt me again." Lance says quietly.

"That was just a test. I needed to find a way to safely put quintessence in your body with minimal harm. Your body had to be broken so the quintessence itself wouldn't harm your body. If you join me, I promise that I won't ever harm you intentionally again. As my prince, I need you to be in top shape. You're too important to me for you to be harmed." Lotor replies.

Important to him? He's important to someone.

Lance hesitantly raises his hand up.

"Don't do it Lance. He's lying to you. The second he has you, he will harm you." Shiro calls out to him.

"Don't listen to him buddy. You belong with us." Hunk adds.

"You belong with me Lance. I'll make sure everything you ever wanted you'll get." Lotor says.

Keith just stares at the entire thing. Lance can't honestly be considering joining Lotor. Sure they treat him mean sometimes but they're nowhere near as bad as Lotor.

"Lance don't believe him. You're smarter than that. You know he's lying to you." Pidge says.

Lance doesn't turn away from Lotor's eyes.

"They're only telling you I'm lying so they can keep you to theirselves. They don't want you to be as great as you can be. They want you to stay on the bottom Lance. Let me help you reach your potential." Lotor counters.

Keith looks at Lance, a feeling of anger and sickness mixing in his stomach as he sees the pain in Lance's eyes once again. Does Lance honestly believe Lotor's words?

"Lance, listen to me. I know we go at it often and I know as a team we aren't always the nicest to you. I know that when you were with Lotor that he broke every bit of self confidence that you could possibly have. I know that you're hurting, I can see the pain in your eyes. But please Lance, don't go to him. He will only harm you. He will use you for what he wants and then throw you away. Lance don't do it. We'll find a way to get out of this and we'll go back together. All of us." Keith says.

Lance is actually surprised at Keith's words. Keith is the last person Lance expected to notice his pain. Lance didn't think Keith could notice anyone besides Shiro.

"Think about it Lance, you'll go back with them and they'll show you some attention in the beginning. But once they feel that you won't think about leaving again, they'll go back to how they always treated you. Don't you want to be truly noticed? Remember, when you were with me you were able to defeat the red paladin. When you were with me you were able to gain their attention. Isn't that what you want, someone to notice you? If you join me, I promise that you'll always be noticed." Lotor says.

How does Lotor know what he's feeling so well? How does Lotor know what goes on in his head? It's almost scary.

But Lotor does make a point. Lance does know that he was able to be noticed by them when he was with Lotor. He even was able to take down Keith. The amazing Keith was beaten by his shadow Lance. It was a surprise to even him.

To be always noticed? To always be better? It sounds almost unreal but Lotor made it happen once already.

Lance begins to reach for Lotor's hand.

"Yes come to me where you belong my little blue paladin. No one will ever look down on you again. No one will ever ignore you again. No one will ever use you again." Lotor says feeling victorious that Lance is choosing him.

Lance looks at his team. Shock and hurt spread across their face. He even sees Pidge mouths no over and over.

"Don't do it. Please Lance." Shiro says.

Lance hesitates, looking back and forth between his team's worried looks and Lotor's trusting and comforting one. He finally makes up his mind though.

He grabs Lotor's hand. Lotor grins in satisfaction.

"No buddy, please no." Hunk whispers.

"No one will ever use me again." Lance says firmly, standing up, ignoring the pain in his leg.

Lance pulls Lotor to his level and grabs the button from him. He pushes it and the wall falls. He drops the but to the ground and gets a firm grip on Lotor's arm.

He used as much force as he possibly can and flings Lotor into the wall.

"Run!" Lance shouts.

Hunk helps Keith up and Shiro gets Pidge. The four of them run out of the room.

"Come find me when you decide not use me like everyone else. Until then I'll fight against you until one of us gives out." Lance says to Lotor, mustering all the courage he can.

He's trembling on the inside though.

"You're better than I thought, no one has ever gotten the better of me like that. But always remember that I'm the only one who knows what your real potential is. You'll come crawling back to me when you realize they're just using you too." Lotor responds smirking.

Lance knows Lotor is giving him a chance to run away. He likes the chase. Lance runs out of the room and and fires at the handprint system once the door closes.

That should give them some time.

He catches up with the other, pushing through the pain in his leg, and they all head to the lions. They get in their lions and fly off to the castle.

The comms are silent the entire way back.

Four of the the five paladins are shocked over what just happened. Lance just tricked Lotor and actually got a hit on him. Lance actually seemed like he was going to join Lotor.

Guilt was actually eating them apart from the thought that Lance would join Lotor because he felt unwanted by them.

Lance on the other hand is more worried about what just happened. Though he tricked Lotor, part of him actually did feel like Lotor would do those things. Part of him did want to be noticed the way Lotor was speaking of. The thought that part of him agreed with Lotor terrifies him.

What makes it worse though is that his team honestly believed that Lance would betray them like that. Is that how they view him? Do they think he would leave them the second he got the chance to?

For those reasons the comms were silent.

When they all finally got back to the castle, Lance just goes straight to his room. He doesn't care about his injuries. He doesn't want to deal with any questions Allura had. He doesn't want to be there when they explain what Lance did. He doesn't want to see their eyes again.

He can't see their eyes again. He can't face them right now.

He just needs to sort out his thoughts.

 _More like I need to clear them._


	14. Chapter 14

It's been five days since they went against Lotor.

It's been five days since Lance locked himself in his room.

It's been five days since anyone has spoken a word about what happened.

In those five days, everyone has been in their own bit of pain.

Hunk just kept feeling the anxiety and pain over the thought of his best friend leaving him for Lotor. He couldn't bare the thought of Lance not being by his side.

Pidge had a similar feeling to Hunk but her fear was losing Lance, the person who basically acted like a brother to her, because of her actions. Lance went through all of that because of her. It's her fault that Lotor could even tempt Lance with the idea of being noticed and cared for.

Shiro felt guilty that he let his own team member go on feeling so unneeded. He tried to recall the times they, no he, complimented Lance for something he did. He tried remember the last time he gave Lance positive attention and not just him scolding him. When he realized how hard it was for him to think of a time, he felt guilt eat at his heart.

Allura did not fully understand what happened while the paladins were with Lotor but she does know that they went through a shocker. She feels that she failed to be of help to the paladins. She doesn't know if sending Lance was the best choice, since he locked himself away, but he did end up helping them escape. In the end they didn't even accomplish what they were sent there for, so did she let Lance suffer again unnecessarily?

Coran missed Lance. He has always had a bond with Lance and he greatly feels terrible about Lance had to go through. He wants to help him but Lance won't open the door or talk to anyone.

Keith though felt anger. Not the type of anger where he wants to go fight. It's anger at himself, at his team, and even at Lance. How did none of them know that Lance felt so useless? Why did he always have to argue with Lance? Why did none of them try to help Lance and make him feel needed? Why didn't Lance just talk to them and explain his feelings? It all angers him and he can't do anything about it. He watches as Hunk leaves food by Lance's door when Lance didn't come out. He watches as Pidge and Sirius stand in front of his door, trying to speak to him. He watches as Allura and Coran go and try to encourage him through the door, hoping Lance would at least respond. He watches as Shiro tries to get Lance to come out to at least have his injuries checked. He watches them all and he can't do a thing about it.

But that's going to change today.

Keith finally got his nerves in check so he can go to Lance's door today.

He avoided that door, not knowing how he would react. Sometimes he just wanted to run and kick the door in and drag Lance out of there. Sometimes he just wanted to sit in front of the door until Lance decided to speak. Sometimes he just wanted to yell at Lance to stop being so selfish and come out so everyone can stop worrying about him. So he avoided the door.

But that's ending today.

He walks to Lance's room, not knowing at all what he is going to say but still determined to do it.

When he finally reaches the door, his hand hesitates to knock. Part of him knows this is a waste of time but he still has to try. With that he knocks.

As expected no answer.

"Lance it's me." He says.

Of course, no response.

"Look I know you don't want to talk to anyone but I think it's time you at least come out. Everyone is worried about you. I mean Hunk looks like he's on the verge of tears everytime he walks past your room. You can't stay in there forever." He continues.

He doesn't want to come across as mean but he doesn't know how else to get Lance out of his room. The others already tried asking him nicely and begging. It just doesn't work.

"Lance I don't know what you're going through but you should at least let us try to help. Do you think it was easy for me to find out that I'm half galra? Why would I be excited to find out I'm not even fully human? Allura hated me and I felt like I didn't even know my own self. I still had to deal with it. Everyone was there for me so why can't you let us help you?" He says.

When he still only has silence as his only response, the urge to kick down the door comes back to him.

But he won't do that.

"Just think about it Lance. You're not the only one on this team. We're all here and we aren't a team if we can't help each other." He says.

Keith decides to walk away. Any more time spent and he may just do something rash. He doesn't want to scare Lance away more.

He just doesn't understand why Lance is being so stubborn.

Keith tries to go about the rest of his day. He ignores the looks that the others give him.

They know he went to go speak to Lance.

He tries not to pay attention as Hunk goes to drop another plate of food off for Lance. He tries to ignore Pidge and Sirius going to Lance room to try and speak to him. He tries to just go about his day, hoping that he stops thinking about when Lance will come out.

The more he thinks about it, the more it frustrates him.

It gets him through the day somewhat, all the way to dinner time.

Dinner time he always has the habit to look at the empty seat next to him. To him it's better than listening to the uncomfortable silence that filled the air for five days now.

As always, after dinner they all just sit down and do their own little things. In the same room but all separate.

No one has anything to say to the other. What is there to possibly say? Lance was always the one to break silences and to get people going. With him suffering in his own world, what conversation do any of them want to have.

They're all surprised though when they hear the doors open and someone walk in.

Everything almost happened too quickly.

Pidge jumped out of her seat and almost tackles him in a hug. Hunk is next, lifting the two of them up in a bear hug. Shiro, Allura, and Coran stand up from their seats. And Keith, Keith stares at him in surprise.

"Lance. I'm glad you came to join us." Shiro says.

Lance came out of his room. For the first time in five days, Lance left his room.

Lance doesn't respond but gives a clearly forced smile. He waits until Hunk lets him out of the suffocating hug and then goes to sit down. Of course though he first lets Allura, Coran, and surprisingly, Shiro hug him.

No one knows what to say, but this time it's because they're in surprise.

What do they say to him?

"How are you Lance?" Allura asks.

"I'm-" He clears his throat then says, "I'm fine Allura."

Lance knows he hasn't used his voice in a while, so speaking feels weird. To be honest with himself, he forgot what his own voice sounds like. The only time he even slightly heard his own voice is when he cried to himself until he fell asleep or when he woke up from a nightmare. Other than that, Lance has not heard his own voice.

"I'm glad you're out buddy. I missed you." Hunk says.

"I did too. And Sirius would scratch at your door a lot so they definitely missed you as well." Pidge says.

"You guys are sweet." Lance says.

Keith just stares at Lance. His smile unsettles him. It's not real. Why is Lance fake smiling so badly that even he can tell that it's unreal?

"I missed you as well. It's quite the quiet place around here without you. It's unexplainably boring." Coran says.

"Yes I was unsure on what to do with all the silence." Allura adds.

"We just weren't a team without you Lance." Shiro says.

Lance just gives them a half hearted reply saying thank you.

It disturbs Keith even more.

"Why are you still smiling?" Keith asks.

This catches everyone off guard, including Lance.

"Keith." Shiro says in a slightly warning tone.

"No, why are you still giving that fake smile? You don't have to pretend for us, so why are you doing that? Why are you trying to act like everything is fine?" Keith goes on.

Lance is surprised that Keith is even asking him such questions. No one has ever asked before.

"Why are you pretending to care?"

The question slips out of Lance's mouth before he can catch himself.

Keith is taken aback at the question but then angered by it.

"What do you mean pretending? You think it's just an act? We both know I never pretended to act any way towards you and I sure as hell am not starting now." Keith responds.

"That's enough Keith." Shiro says.

Keith isn't going to back down though. He stands up from his seat.

"I want to know why you are sitting here giving us all a fake smile when you know that everyone was worrying about you like crazy." Keith says.

Lance looks away as he feels frustrated tears threaten to escape from his eyes.

"Why would you care? Why don't you just take the smile and go about your life? Why should the great Keith care about what I do?" Lance replies.

"Lance don't say that. Keith is just having difficulty expressing himself." Hunk says.

"Why? You're asking me why? I'm sorry it's not like I worked my ass off day and night to save you. It's not like I lost my mind trying to find ways to beat the bastard who took you away." Keith say heatedly.

Shiro puts a hand on Keith's shoulder, trying to settle him down.

"Well I'm sorry I put you through so much trouble again. That's all I seem to do for this team huh. What use am I? Little ol' Lance is just the trouble making fool of the group. I just don't seem to do anything right. What good am I? I mean you all even thought I would betray you and join the person who tortured me so I really must mean nothing." Lance responds.

Before anyone can register it, Keith's fist makes contact with Lance's nose.

Lance holds his now bloody nose with his hand as he looks in shock at Keith. His body threatens to shake as memories of Lotor beating him play in his mind.

"You damn idiot. You think you're so worthless and you're not. You'd risk your life for your teammates. You'd do anything to make sure any one of us is okay. You try to keep us happy no matter what. You make us laugh even when we don't really feel like laughing. You're a sharpshooter who can hit his target and rarely ever miss. You are a paladin of Voltron and it's for a damn good reason. So stop thinking you're so worthless. You may do things that infuriate me a lot but when it comes down to it, I trust you with my life because I know you wouldn't dare let anything happen to a team member as long as you can do something about it. You are not useless. You are not worthless. The next time I hear you say something so stupid like that again, I'll do more than punch you." Keith says angrily.

Lance stares at Keith as his tears begin to spill over.

Keith just said he's useful, that he means something. Keith, the very person who Lance has always been in his shadow, just said that he trusts Lance with his life.

Someone said he's wanted.

The tears won't stop.

What Keith said is much different than everything he has told himself and what Lotor has told him.

If watching Lance cry didn't seem uncharacteristic then everyone was definitely surprised at what Keith did next.

He went over and pulled Lance into a hug.

Lance doesn't fight it and just continues to cry on Keith's shoulder.

"You're so stupid." Keith mumbles.

But it's clear to see he means no harm by it.

Shiro was ready to hold Keith back and scold him for what he did to Lance, but he stopped what Keith went on to tell Lance how useful he really is. Pidge was ready to go off on Keith for punching Lance in the face and making him cry, but Keith hugging him made her reconsider. Hunk was going to try and comfort Lance but Keith seemed to beat him to it.

"You listen to me Lance, the next time someone calls you worthless or useless, you tell Pidge and I and we'll go show that person that no one messes with a paladin of Voltron. And if you ever tell yourself that, I'll beat you down myself." Keith says.

Pidge finally finds her voice again at that.

"He's right. I'll go show that jerk what happens when they insult one of my teammates." Pidge says.

Lance lifts his head up from Keith's shoulder and looks at her teary eyed.

"Keith is right buddy, you're not the least bit useless. You're really important to us all." Hunk says.

"You make this team quite interesting even if I do not understand all of your Earth jokes." Allura says.

Shiro walks over to Lance and kneels down to his level.

"Lance I know we don't treat you as well as we should but we do care about you. You're as equally important as everyone else is." Shiro says.

The word important makes Lance want to cry more.

"I'm sorry I put you guys through so much." Lance says.

"Don't make me punch you again." Keith threatens.

Lance chuckles through his tears.

"I'm fine with the bloody nose you already gave me." Lance replies.

Keith chuckles with him, glad Lance is still able to laugh.

"Good because there's nothing to be sorry about." Keith says.

Pidge gives Lance another hug.

"We're here for you Lance. We'll make it up to you." Pidge says.

"Yeah, I won't let you out of my sight." Hunk says.

Lance wipes his tear sand gives a small but genuine smile.

"Thanks you guys." He says.

Lance turns back to Keith.

"And thanks Keith. Who would have known you're good at comforting. What you said to me earlier is what gave me the courage to even come out of my room." Lance says.

Keith gives a small smile in return.

"No problem. Just don't do anything as stupid as that again." Keith replies.

Maybe things can be fixed.


	15. Chapter 15

It's been months since everything has happened.

The team worked hard to get back into the swing of things. They all took extra steps to make sure everything became better.

For Hunk, he made sure he spent as much time with Lance as possible. He spent enough time without Lance to last a lifetime for him.

For Pidge, she works hard to also spend time with Lance. She also tries to snap on him less. She knows that Lance is just trying to keep her spirits up, so even when he seems a bit annoying at times she accepts it.

For Keith, he tries to not make Lance feel like he's in his shadow. He makes sure in battle he fights alongside Lance. He doesn't yell at him through the comms when he disagrees with something Lance does. Sure at times he still snaps at Lance but he always makes it up by reminding Lance that just because he's mad at him, it doesn't mean that he looks down or hate him.

For Shiro, he makes an effort to commend Lance when he does something good. He realized he had to be more balanced. He can't only tell Lance when he did something wrong. He also tries to give Lance, and everyone else for that matter, more attention. He knows he tends to only focus on one person so he tries to spread his attention evenly.

And for Lance, Lance tries to keep himself positive. He tries to remind himself that he does mean something and that he's needed. Though he still suffers from nightmares of his time with Lotor, he tells one of the other in the morning or goes to stay with one of them for the night. He reminds himself that his team is there to help him. He tries his hardest to fight the demons he has had for years. And whenever he feels like he's losing that battle, he goes to one of his teammates and lets them help him.

Tonight is one of those nights.

He gets out of his bed, not having a wink of sleep due to his thoughts bombarding him.

He wants to stay in his room and pretend like he's okay. He knows by this time Hunk and Pidge are both asleep. He got Pidge out of her work hours ago so he knows she's asleep. Though Shiro has been a bit more friendly towards him, he isn't that close with Shiro yet. So that leaves Keith.

He doesn't want to bother Keith and he definitely doesn't want to be punched again. Keith tends to hold up his promise of hitting Lance when Lance doesn't get his thoughts in check.

But at this point, going to Keith may be better than staying here alone with his thoughts.

He leaves his room and heads over to Keith's room.

When he get there, he wants to turn back immediately. He remembers though how terrible it is to be alone with his thoughts.

He knocks and he hears shuffling. The door opens.

"What are you doing here Lance?" Keith asks.

"Bad thoughts and Hunk and Pidge are asleep." Lance replies.

Keith walks in and Lance takes that as his invitation in. He follows Keith in.

"So do I have to hit you or what?" Keith asks.

"No you don't have to hit me. I just couldn't be alone. Sorry for bothering you." Lance says.

Keith gestures Lance to take a seat on the bed. Lance takes a seat.

"You're not bothering me. At least you're making an effort to help yourself." Keith says.

Keith gets up and grabs an extra blanket and pillows from his closet. He places them on the floor and then gets down.

"What are you doing?" Lance asks.

"I'm getting ready to go to sleep. What does it look like?" Keith replies.

"Wait why aren't you getting your bed then? I can go back to my room." Lance says.

Keith rolls his eyes.

"You're sleeping here tonight stupid and you're taking the bed. So be quiet and lay down." Keith says.

"Wait I can't kick you out of your bed. I'll take the floor." Lance says.

Keith just gets under his blanket and ignores Lance's comment.

"Goodnight Lance." Keith says.

Lance, seeing he's not going to win, lies down.

"Thanks Keith." Lance says.

"You're welcome Lance now try to get some sleep." Keith says.

Lance smiles and closes his eyes.

"Never forget Lance, no one gets left behind."


End file.
